1769. ROUND THE WORLD. 191 



a neighbouring house an hour, and the operation was 

 not over when he went away ; yet it was performed 

 but upon one side, the other having been done some 

 time before ; and the arches upon the loins, in which 

 they most pride themselves, and which give more 

 pain than all the rest, were still to be done. 



It is strange that these people should value them- 

 selves upon what is no distinction ; for I never saw a 

 native of this island, either man or woman, in a state 

 of maturity, in whom these marks were wanting : 

 possibly they may have their rise in superstition, 

 especially as they produce no visible advantage, and 

 are not made without great pain ; but though we 

 enquired of many hundreds, we could never get any 

 account of the matter. 



Their clothing consists of cloth or matting of dif- 

 ferent kinds, which will be described among their 

 other manufactures. The cloth which will not bear 

 wetting they wear in dry weather, and the matting 

 when it rains : they are put on in many different 

 ways, just as their fancy leads them ; for in their 

 garments nothing is cut into shape, nor are any two 

 pieces sewed together. The dress of the better sort 

 of women consists of three or four pieces : one piece, 

 about two yards wide, and eleven yards long, they 

 wrap several times round their waist, so as to hang 

 down like a petticoat as low as the middle of the leg, 

 and this they call Parou : two or three other pieces, 

 about two yards and a half long, and one wide, each 

 having a hole cut in the middle, they place one upon 

 another, and then putting the head through the holes, 

 they bring the long ends down before and behind ; 

 the others remain open at the sides, and gi\e liberty 

 to the arms : this, which they call the Tebuta, is 

 gathered round the waist, and confined with a girdle 

 or sash of thinner cloth, which is long enough to go 

 many times round them, and exactly resembles the 

 garment worn by the inhabitants of Peru and Chili, 

 which the Spaniards call Poncho. The dress of the 



