1 86 NEW ZEALAND CHAP, vm 



hand-to-hand, and certainly well contrived for splitting skulls, 

 as it weighs not less than four or five pounds, and has sharp 

 edges excellently polished. 



The people were, in general, of a middling size, though 

 there was no one who measured more than six feet. Their 

 colour was a dark brown. Their lips were stained with 

 something put under the skin (as in the Otahite tattow), and 

 their faces marked with deeply - engraved furrows, also 

 coloured black, and formed in regular spirals. Of these, the 

 oldest people had much the greatest quantity, and most 

 deeply channelled, in some not less than ^ part of an 

 inch. Their hair was black, and tietl up on the tops of 

 their heads in a little knot, in which were stuck feathers 

 of various birds in different tastes, according to the 

 humour of the wearer. Sometimes they had one knot on 

 each side, and pointing forwards, which made a most dis- 

 agreeable appearance. In their ears they generally wore a 

 large bunch of the milk-white down of some bird. The 

 faces of some were painted with a red colour in oil, some 

 all over, others in parts only. In their hair was much oil, 

 which had very little smell, but more lice than ever I saw 

 before. Most of them had a small comb, neatly enough 

 made, sometimes of wood, sometimes of bone, which they 

 seem to prize much. A few had on their faces or arms 

 regular scars, as if made with a sharp instrument, such as I 

 have seen on the faces of negroes. The inferior sort were 

 clothed in something that very much resembled hemp : the 

 loose strings of this were fastened together at the top, and it 

 hung down about two feet like a petticoat. Of these 

 garments they wore two, one round their shoulders, and the 

 other about their waists. The richer had garments probably 

 of a finer sort of the same stuff, most beautifully made, and 

 exactly like that of the South American Indians at this day, 

 and as fine, or finer, than a piece which I bought at Eio de 

 Janeiro for thirty-six shillings, and which was esteemed un- 

 commonly cheap at that price. Their boats were not large, 

 but well made, something like our whale boats, not longer. 

 The bottom was the trunk of a tree hollowed out, and very 



