'^18 REM AUKS AND OPINIONS. 



seemed all to belong to the same family. An old 

 man (perhaps the father of the family ?) stood in 

 the middle and spoke for all. He had tied, ap- 

 parently as an emblem of peace, the end of a 

 cocoa-leaf round his neck. There were women in 

 three boats only. In these an elderly woman 

 (the mother of the family ?) occupied a back seat, 

 and seemed to have an important influence in the 

 affairs of the men. The authority of no individual 

 seemed to extend farther than his own boat. 



The women wear a girdle, with stripes of bast 

 hanging loosely, similar to that of the men at Ra~ 

 dack. And the men only bunches of cocoa-leaves 

 tied to a cord. Only a few of them had a scanty 

 covering for their shoulder. This consists of a 

 coarse mat in two pieces, made of a cocoa-leaf. 

 A part of the middle rib, on which the little leaves 

 grow, forms the under-edge of this basket-like 

 mantle. Sometimes bleached pandanus leaves are 

 braided between, for ornament. Only a few of 

 them had a head-dress of black feathers. 



They pressed round our vessel with much affa- 

 bility and confidence, but none of them ventured 

 to accept our invitation to come on board. They 

 had but little to give us in exchange for our goods, 

 to which they pointed with eagerness, and received 

 them with a kind of respect ; only some cocoa- 

 nuts, mostly unripe, some utensils which they had 

 taken with them by chance, and their arms. These 

 are long lances, made of cocoa-nut tree, at the 



