ULAKUA. 253 



rings, ten yards of which will in Florida Island purchase 

 a wife ; or those that are made of the incisor teeth of dogs, 

 in which form they are so much valued by the natives 

 that it is extremely difficult to procure them, they being 

 handed down from father to son as heir-looms. Sometimes 

 they are made of small disks of shell and human teeth, 

 perforated and strung together upon a thin strip of bamboo, 

 the teeth being placed about an inch apart. 



Great attention is paid to the composition of their head 

 ornaments, which exhibit great variety of patterns, forms, 

 and materials. Some of them are made of a piece of thin 

 rounded clam shell, faced with a very thin circle of tortoise- 

 shell beautifully carved, in which form they are worn at 

 the side of the head and cover the ear. They also take the 

 form of frontlets, made of the teeth of porpoises and dogs ; 

 of rosettes, made of the red and yellow feathers of the 

 cockatoo and parrot, relieved with oi'namental shell work ; 

 sometimes they are made of a kind of red dyed grass affixed 

 to the head by a large comb. Their knee ornaments have 

 a pretty effect, being made of neatly braided dyed grass, of 

 red, black, and white shell work, or of the shells of a kind 

 of nut, which are intended to make a rattling noise in their 

 dances. Their waistbands, armlets, &c., exhibit the same 

 general character of ornament. Of their ear ornaments, 

 specimens of some varieties of them have been given. But 

 the most remarkable are those made of light or heavy wood 

 of a circular form, and worn in the lobe of the ear. A slit 

 is made in it to which a weight is attached, or pieces of 



