106 EAMBLES OF A NATUEALIST. [Ch. VII. 



men were attired similarly to Chinese coolies, tliat is, usually 

 in a simple pair of short drawers, to which, in some cases, a 

 blouse was added. The dress of the women consisted of 

 a short petticoat, folded round the loins and meeting in 

 front, where it overlapped, but was not fastened. This 

 petticoat did not reach so far as the knees, and the feet 

 and legs were bare. A sort of loose jacket, open in front, 

 completed their attire, though some of the matrons did not 

 make use of this addition. This, however, appears to be a 

 costume not always considered necessary, and those who 

 landed at the village early on the second morning report 

 that the population was more scantily clad, the men being 

 entirely naked, and the women wearing only a ^ap round 

 the loins. Seeing the strangers arrive, however, they re- 

 tired with dehberation to their huts, closed the doors, and 

 reappeared in the costume above described. The women 

 possessed necklaces of beads, which they wore round their 

 necks, and some of them had stone bangles round their 

 arms ; their ears were pierced in three or four places from 

 the lobe upwards, though none of them seemed to have or- 

 naments in them, except buttons, often of the commonest 

 kind. The young children of both sexes were entirely 

 naked. Most of them had objects round their necks, such 

 as coins, beads, or buttons. 



It should be mentioned that, in most cases, the garments 

 worn by these people were made from a cloth of their own 

 manufacture. This was a stout material, the threads of 

 which were usually arranged in a zigzag patteruj and of a 

 whitish or bluish-white colour. Many of the younger girls 

 were employed in spinning the thread from fibres of hemp ; 

 and the cloth was woven by the older women, in pieces 

 about a yard and a half long and a foot broad; three of 



