212 cook's first voyage august, 



whom we had seen one day with his beard somewhat 

 longer than his companions, we saw the next with it 

 somewhat shorter, and upon examination found the 

 ends of the hairs burnt : from this incident, and our 

 having never seen any sharp instrument among them, 

 we concluded that both the hair and the beard were 

 kept short by singeing them. 



Both sexes, as I have already observed, go stark 

 naked, and seem to have no more sense of indecency 

 in discovering the whole body, than we have in dis- 

 covering our hands and face. Their principal orna- 

 ment is the bone, which they thrust through the car- 

 tilage that divides the nostrils from each other. What 

 perversion of taste could make them think this a de- 

 coration, or what could prompt them, before they 

 had worn it or seen it worn, to suffer the pain and 

 inconvenience that must of necessity attend it, is 

 perhaps beyond the power of human sagacity to de- 

 termine. As this bone is as thick as a man's finger, 

 and between five and six inches long, it reaches quite 

 across the face, and so effectually stops up both the 

 nostrils, that they are forced to keep their mouths 

 wide open for breath, and snuffle so when they at- 

 tempt to speak, that they are scarcely intelligible 

 even to each other. Our seamen, with some humour, 

 called it their spritsail-yard ; and, indeed, it had so 

 ludicrous an appearance, that till we were used to it, 

 we found it difficult to refrain from laughter. Be- 

 side this nose-jewel, they had necklaces made of 

 shells, very neatly cut and strung together ; brace- 

 lets of small cord, wound two or three times about 

 the upper part of their arm, and a string of plaited 

 human hair about as thick as a thread of yarn, tied 

 roud the waist. Besides these, some of them had gor- 

 gets of shells hanging round the neck, so as to reach 

 cross the breast. But though these people wear no 

 clothes, their bodies have a covering besides the dirt, 

 for they paint them both white and red : the red is 

 commonly laid on in broad patches upon the shoul- 



