192 cook's first voyage 1769» 



men is the same, except that, instead of suffering the 

 cloth that is wound about the hips to hang down like a 

 petticoat, they bring it between their legs so as to 

 have some resemblance to breeches, and it is then 

 called Ma?^o, This is the dress of all ranks of people, 

 and being universally the same as to form, the gen- 

 tlemen and ladies distinguish themselves from the 

 lower people by the quantity ; some of them will 

 wrap round them several pieces of cloth, eight or ten 

 yards long, and two or three broad ; and some throw 

 a large piece loosely over their shoulders, in the 

 manner of a cloak ; or perhaps two pieces, if they are 

 very great personages, and are desirous to appear in 

 state. The inferior sort, who have only a small 

 allowance of cloth from the tribes or families to 

 which they belong, are obliged to be more thinly 

 clad. In the heat of the day, they appear almost 

 naked, the women having only a scanty petticoat, 

 and the men nothing but the sash that is passed be- 

 tween their legs and fastened round the waist. As 

 finery is always troublesome, and particularly in a 

 hot country, where it consists in putting one covering 

 upon another, the women of rank always uncover 

 themselves as low as the waist in the evening, throw- 

 ing off all that they wear on the upper part of the 

 body, with the same negligence and ease as our ladies 

 would lay by a cardinal or double handkerchief. 

 And the chiefs, even when they visited us, though 

 they had as much cloth round their middle as would 

 clothe a dozen people, had frequently the rest of the 

 body quite naked. 



Upon their legs and feet, they wear no covering ; 

 but they shade their faces from the sun with little 

 bonnets, either of matting or of cocoa-nut leaves, 

 which they make occasionally in a few minutes. This, 

 however, is not all their head-dress ; the women 

 sometimes wear little turbans, and sometimes a dress 

 which they value much more, and which, indeed, is 

 much more becoming, called Tomou : the tomou 



