THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 139 



fmall feathers, woven fo clofe together as to form a furface '779* 



March. 



as fmooth as that of the richer! velvet. The ground was 

 generally of a red colour, with alternate circles of green, 

 yellow, and black. Their bracelets, which were alfo of 

 great variety, and very peculiar kinds, have been already 

 defcribed. 



At Atooi, fome' of the women wore little figures of the 

 turtle, neatly formed of wood or ivory, tied on their fingers 

 in the manner we wear rings. Why this animal is thus 

 particularly diflinguiflicd, I leave to the conjectures of the 

 curious. There is alfo an ornament made or" fhells, fattened 

 in rows on a ground of flrong netting, fo as to ftrike each 

 other, when in motion ; which both men and women, when 

 they dance, tie either round the arm or the ankle, or below 

 the knee. Inftead of (hells, they fometimes make ufe of 

 dogs teeth, and a hard red berry, refembling that of the 

 holly. 



There remains to be mentioned another ornament (if fuch 

 it may be called), the figure of which may be better con- 

 ceived from the annexed print, than any written defcrip- 

 tion. It is a kind of mafk, made of a large gourd, with 

 holes cut in it for the eyes and nofe. The top was ftuck full 

 of fmall green twigs, which, at a diflance, had the appear- 

 ance of an elegant waving plume ; and from the lower part 

 hung narrow ftripes of cloth, refembling a beard. We never 

 faw thefe mafks worn but twice, and both times by a num- 

 ber of people together in a canoe, who came to the fide of 

 the fliip, laughing and drolling, with an air of mafquerad- 

 ing. Whether they may not likewife be ufed as a defence 

 for the head againft flones, for which they feem befl de- 

 signed, or in fome of their public games, or be merely in- 



T 2 tended 



