44 cook's first voyage march, 



girdle and apron which they wear in common have 

 been mentioned before. 



Both sexes bore their ears, and, by stretching them, 

 the holes become large enough to admit a finger at 

 least. In these holes they wear ornaments of various 

 kinds, cloth, feathers, bones of large birds, and even 

 sometimes a stick of wood ; and to these receptacles 

 of finery they generally applied the nails which we 

 gave them, and every thing which it was pos- 

 sible they could contain. The women sometimes 

 thrust through them the down of the albatros, which 

 is as white as snow, and which, spreading before and 

 behind the hole in a bunch almost as big as the 

 fist, makes a very singular, and, however strange it 

 may be thought, not a disagreeable appearance. 

 Besides the ornaments that are thrust through the 

 holes of the ears, many others are suspended to them 

 by strings ; such as chissels or bodkins made of green 

 talc, upon which they set a high value, the nails and 

 teeth of their deceased relations, the teeth of dogs, 

 and every thing else that they can get, which they 

 think either curious or valuable. The women also 

 w r ear bracelets and anclets, made of the bones of 

 birds, shells, or any other substances which they can 

 perforate and string upon a thread. The men had 

 sometimes hanging to a string, which went round the 

 neck, a piece of green talc, or whalebone, somewhat 

 in the shape of a tongue, with the rude figure of a 

 man carved upon it ; and upon this ornament they 

 set a high value. In one instance, we saw the gristle 

 that divides the nostrils, and called by anatomists 

 the septum nasi, perforated, and a feather thrust 

 through the hole, which projected on each side over 

 the cheeks : it is probable that this frightful singu- 

 larity was intended as an ornament ; but of the many 

 people we saw, we never observed it in any other, 

 nor even a perforation that might occasionally serve 

 for such a purpose. 



Their houses are the most inartificially made of any 



