132 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS cx. vu 
It is no uncommon thing for the richest men to come to 
see us with a large quantity of cloth rolled round the loins, 
and all the rest of the body naked ; though the cloth wrapped 
round them was sufficient to have clothed a dozen people. 
The women at sunset always bared their bodies down to the 
waist, which seemed to be a kind of easy undress to them ; 
as it is to our ladies to pull off any finery that has been used 
during the course of the day, and change it for a loose gown 
or capuchin. 
Both sexes shade their faces from the sun with little 
bonnets of cocoanut leaves, which they make occasionally 
in a very few minutes; some have these made of fine mat- 
ting, but that is less common. Of matting they have 
several sorts ; some very fine, which is used in exactly the 
same manner as cloth for their dresses, chiefly in rainy 
weather, as the cloth will not bear the least wet. 
Ornaments they have very few. They are very fond of 
earrings, but wear them only in one ear. When we arrived 
they had their own earrings made of shell, stone, berries, 
red peas, and some small pearls, of which they wore three 
tied together; but our beads very quickly supplied their 
place. They are also very fond of flowers, especially of the 
Cape jasmine, of which they have great plenty planted near 
their houses. These they stick into the holes of their ears 
and into their hair, if they have enough of them, which is 
but seldom. The men wear feathers, often the tails of tropic 
birds stuck upright in their hair. They have also a kind 
of wig made upon one string, of the hair of men or dogs, or 
of cocoanut, which they tie under their hair at the back of the 
head. I have seen them also wear whimsical garlands made 
of a variety of flowers stuck into a piece of the rind of 
plantain, or of scarlet peas stuck upon a piece of wood with 
gum, but these are not common. But their great pride in 
dress seems to be centred in what they call tamou, which is 
human hair plaited scarcely thicker than common thread ; of 
this I may easily affirm that I have seen pieces above a mile ! 
1 21st January 1772, measured one 6144 feet, another 7294 feet. (Note by 
Banks.) 
