156 A TAHAITIAN’S WARDROBE. 
Tahaiti by merchant-ships, are purchased at a 
rag-market, and sold here at an enormous pro- 
fit. The Tahaitian therefore, finding a complete 
suit of clothes very expensive, contents himself 
with a single garment; whoever can obtain an 
English military coat, or even a plain one, goes 
about with the rest of his body naked, except 
the universally-worn girdle; the happy owner 
of a waistcoat or a pair of trowsers, thinks his 
wardrobe amply furnished. Some have nothing 
more than a shirt, and others, as much oppress- » 
ed by the heat under a heavy cloth mantle 
as they would be in a Russian bath, are far too 
vain of their finery to lay it aside. Shoes, 
boots, or stockings, are rarely met with, and 
the coats, mostly too tight and too short, make 
the oddest appearance imaginable; many of 
their wearers can scarcely move their arms, and 
are forced to stretch them out like the sails of 
a windmill, while their elbows, curious to see 
the world, peep through slits in the seams. Let 
any one imagine such an assembly, perfectly 
satisfied of the propriety of their costume, and 
wearing, to complete the comic effect, a most 
ultra-serious expression of countenance, and he. 
