132 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS CH. vn 



It is no uncommon thing for the richest men to come to 

 see us with a large quantity of cloth rolled round the loins, 

 and all the rest of the body naked ; though the cloth wrapped 

 round them was sufficient to have clothed a dozen people. 

 The women at sunset always bared their bodies down to the 

 waist, which seemed to be a kind of easy undress to them ; 

 as it is to our ladies to pull off any finery that has been used 

 during the course of the day, and change it for a loose gown 

 or capuchin. 



Both sexes shade their faces from the sun with little 

 bonnets of cocoanut leaves, which they make occasionally 

 in a very few minutes ; some have these made of fine mat- 

 ting, but that is less common. Of matting they have 

 several sorts ; some very fine, which is used in exactly the 

 same manner as cloth for their dresses, chiefly in rainy 

 weather, as the cloth will not bear the least wet. 



Ornaments they have very few. They are very fond of 

 earrings, but wear them only in one ear. When we arrived 

 they had their own earrings made of shell, stone, berries, 

 red peas, and some small pearls, of which they wore three 

 tied together; but our beads very quickly supplied their 

 place. They are also very fond of flowers, especially of the 

 Cape jasmine, of which they have great plenty planted near 

 their houses. These they stick into the holes of their ears 

 and into their hair, if they have enough of them, which is 

 but seldom. The men wear feathers, often the tails of tropic 

 birds stuck upright in their hair. They have also a kind 

 of wig made upon one string, of the hair of men or dogs, or 

 of cocoanut, which they tie under their hair at the back of the 

 head. I have seen them also wear whimsical garlands made 

 of a variety of flowers stuck into a piece of the rind of 

 plantain, or of scarlet peas stuck upon a piece of wood with 

 gum, but these are not common. But their great pride in 

 dress seems to be centred in what they call tamou, which is 

 human hair plaited scarcely thicker than common thread ; of 

 this I may easily affirm that I have seen pieces above a mile 1 



1 21st January 1772, measured one 6144 feet, another 7294 feet. (Note ty 

 Batiks.) 



