ORNAMENTS. HOUSES. 377 



" She was attired in a light, loose, and flowing dress of 

 beautifully white native cloth, tastefully fastened on the 

 left shoulder, and reaching to the ancle ; her hair was rather 

 lighter than that of the natives in general ; and on her 

 head she wore a light and elegant native bonnet, of green 

 and yellow cocoa-nut leaves ; each ear was perforated, and 

 in the perforation two or three flowers of the fragrant Cape 

 jessamine were inserted." The dress of the men was very 

 similar, but instead of the petticoat, they brought the cloth 

 between the legs ; this was called the Maro. In hot weather* 

 and at noon both sexes went almost naked, wearing only the 

 cloth round the waist. Besides the turbans and head-dresses 

 of leaves, they sometimes wore long plaits of human hair, 

 which they wound about the head in such a manner as 

 to produce a very pretty effect. They were very clean 

 both in their persons and their clothes ; constantly washing 

 three times a day. Ornaments were worn by the men 

 as much as by the women, and consisted of feathers, 

 flowers, pieces of shells, and pearls. Tattooing also was 

 almost universal; and a person not properly tattooed would 

 "be as much reproached and shunned, as if with us he 

 should go about the streets naked, "f They anointed their 

 heads frequently with perfumed cocoa-nut oil, but had no 

 combs, which in so hot a country must have been much 

 wanted. Notwithstanding this, the hair of the grown-up 

 people was very neatly dressed. 



Their houses were used principally as dormitories. They 

 were made of wood, and were generally about twenty-four 

 feet long, eleven wide, and nine feet high. They had no 

 side walls, but the roof reached to within about three feet 

 and a half of the ground. Palm leaves took the place of 

 thatch, and the floor was generally covered with soft hay. 



* The Sandwich Islanders had small square fans of mat or wicker-work, with 

 handles of the same or of wood. t "Wilson, I.e. p. 355. 



