1769 DWELLINGS 133 



in length, worked on end without a single knot ; and I 

 have seen five or six of such pieces wound round the head of 

 one woman, the effect of which, if done with taste, was most 

 becoming. Their dancing dresses I have described in the 

 island of Ulhietea ; and that of the Heiva I shall when I 

 come to their mourning ceremonies. They have also several 

 others suited to particular ceremonies which I had not an 

 opportunity of seeing, although I was desirous of doing so, 

 as the singular taste of those I did see promised much novelty, 

 at least, if not something worth imitation, in whatever they 

 take pains with. 



I had almost forgotten the oil (monoe it is called in 

 their language) with which they anoint their heads, a custom 

 more disagreeable to Europeans than any other among them. 

 This is made of cocoanut oil, in which some sweet woods 

 or flowers are infused. It is most commonly very rancid, 

 and consequently the wearers of it smell most disagreeably ; 

 at first we found it so, but very little custom reconciled me, 

 at least, completely to it. 



The houses, or rather dwellings, of these people are 

 admirably adapted to the continual warmth of the climate. 

 They do not build them in villages or towns, but separate 

 each from the other, according to the size of the estate the 

 owner of the house possesses. They are always in the 

 woods ; and no more ground is cleared for each house than 

 is just sufficient to hinder the dropping off the branches from 

 rotting the thatch with which they are covered, so that you 

 step from the house immediately under shade, and that the 

 most beautiful imaginable. No country can boast such 

 delightful walks as this ; for the whole plains where the 

 people live are covered with groves of bread-fruit and cocoa- 

 nut trees without underwood. These are intersected in all 

 directions by the paths which go from one house to the 

 other, so that the whole country is one shade, than which 

 nothing can be more grateful in a climate where the sun has 

 so powerful an influence. The houses are built without 

 walls, so that the air, cooled by the shade of the trees, has 

 free access in whatever direction it happens to blow. I 



