ACROSS THE ROCKY BIOUNTAINS, ETC. 193 



Mr. Paty, and others. In the afternoon we strolled out with two 

 or three gentlemen to view the village and its environs. 



The town of Honoruru contains about three hundred houses, 

 the great majority of which are composed of grass exclusively, 

 and those occupied by the natives consist of a single room. 

 Others, in which many of the foreigners reside, are partitioned 

 with boards, and form as comfortable and agreeable residences 

 as could be desired in a climate always warm. There are some 

 few houses of frame, and several of coral rock, built by the resi- 

 dent merchants and missionaries; but they are certainly not 

 superior, except in being more durable, to those of grass, and 

 probably not so comfortable in the intensely hot seasons. The 

 houses are scattered about without any regard to regularity, the 

 hard, clay passage-ways winding amongst them in every direc- 

 tion ; but an air of neatness and simple elegance prervades the 

 whole, which cannot fail to make a favorable impression on the 

 stranger. 



The natives ax'e generally remarkably well formed, of a dark 

 copper color, with pleasant and rather intellectual countenances, 

 and many of the women are handsome. 



The dress of the men, not in the employment of the whites, 

 consists of a large piece of native cloth, called a Tapa, or a robe 

 of calico thrown loosely round the body, somewhat like the 

 Roman toga, and knotted on the left shoulder. The women wear 

 a loose gown of calico, or native cloth, fastened tightly round the 

 neck, but not bound at the waist, and often with the addition of 

 several yards of cotton cloth tied round above the hips. 



Their hair is generally of a beautiful glossy black, and of un- 

 usual fineness ; it is folded around the back part of the head, 

 very much in the manner common to our ladies at home, and 

 splendid tortoise shell combs, of their own manufacture, are used 

 to confine it. They display much taste in the arrangement of 

 wild flowers amongst their hair, and a common ornament for the 



