160 NATIVE USES OF OCHRE. [PART I. 



burying-places ; it is also universally in request to 

 rub into their faces and bodies. The custom of be- 

 smearing the body in this manner is common to al- 

 most all barbarous nations, and is adopted for objects 

 widely differing. When going to battle, the savage 

 bedaubs himself in order to strike terror and fear into 

 the heart of his enemy; when joining in the fune- 

 ral ceremonies or the festivities of his tribe, he em- 

 ploys the same means to increase the beauty of his 

 appearance : the custom of covering themselves with 

 a thick coating of this substance at the death of a 

 relation or of a friend may have a symbolical mean- 

 ing, reminding them of the earth from which they 

 have sprung, and is similar to the practice prevailing 

 among Oriental nations of mourners heaping ashes 

 on their heads. The New Zealander also regards 

 this pigment as a good defence against the trouble- 

 some sandflies and musquittos. Whether it is the 

 cause of the sleekness of the skin for which the 

 natives are so remarkable, I will not pretend to say ; 

 as this may be owing to their frequent bathing and 

 continual exposure to the air, or, which is still more 

 probable, may be a characteristic feature of the Poly- 

 nesian and other coloured races, in consequence of a 

 greater development of the vascular papillae between 

 the epidermis and cutis than is the case with the 

 white or Caucasian races. 



But to return from this long digression, The 

 Waiwakaio was at this point confined between 

 high walls overshaded by trees ; here and there 



