104 costume. [1839 



the more intelligent and civilized natives, mantles of delicate 

 matting, made from the bark of the hibiscus, are worn over 

 the shoulders, and a pareu, or robe of cotton cloth, is wound 

 round the body. The maro, or covering for the loins, and a 

 mat of pandanus leaves, are the principal articles of clothing 

 for the men. The children are allowed to go entirely naked. 

 Upon a gala day, however, the Paumotuan costume exhibits 

 a droll melange, representing, in some feature, that of every 

 nation on the globe. These holiday dresses consist of articles 

 obtained by barter from the crews of vessels touching at the 

 islands, and are in general highly prized. 



Among the inhabitants of the eastern islands, whose ex- 

 treme squalidity and wretchedness so pointedly contradict 

 the assertion of Locke, that " a person is a thinking, intelli- 

 gent being," it is customary to bedaub the face with cocoa- 

 nut oil and ashes. The beauties of these cosmetics are never 

 so well appreciated by the European or American, as when 

 going through with the process of salutation. When they 

 wish to welcome a stranger, they approach him with a purring 

 noise, like that of a cat, clasp the right arm about his neck, 

 and rub their noses across his, backward and forward, three 

 times ; and when the ceremony is ended, it will not surprise 

 him to find that, in color at least, they are all birds of a 

 feather. On the other islands a little more refinement is ex- 

 hibited at the toilet, and cocoa-nut oil and turmeric* are used 

 to give a bright shining polish, and an orange tint, to the 

 complexion. 



(9.) As great a difference exists among the Paumotuans, 

 in the mode of constructing their habitations, as in their 

 dress. On some of the islands, they are mere huts, consist- 

 ing of four or five poles stuck into the ground at both ends, 

 with strips of cocoa-nut wood, or bamboos, laid upon them 

 horizontally, and tied down, over which grass and pandanus 

 leaves, or mats, are spread : they are from six to eight feet 



* The turmeric dye of the East Indies, and of the Pacific islands, is obtained 

 from the curcuma longa, a very different plant from the blood-root (sanguinaria 

 tanadensis) of America, to which the name is sometimes applied. 



