1769 DWELLINGS 133 
in length, worked on end without a single knot; and I 
have seen five or six of such pieces wound round the head of 
one woman, the effect of which, if done with taste, was most 
becoming. Their dancing dresses I have described in the 
island of Ulhietea; and that of the Heiva I shall when I 
come to their mourning ceremonies. They have also several 
others suited to particular ceremonies which I had not an 
opportunity of seeing, although I was desirous of doing so, 
as the singular taste of those I did see promised much novelty, 
at least, if not something worth imitation, in whatever they 
take pains with. 
I had almost forgotten the oil (monve it is called in 
their language) with which they anoint their heads, a custom 
more disagreeable to Europeans than any other among them. 
This is made of cocoanut oil, in which some sweet woods 
or flowers are infused. It is most commonly very rancid, 
and consequently the wearers of it smell most disagreeably ; 
at first we found it so, but very little custom reconciled me, 
at least, completely to it. 
The houses, or rather dwellings, of these people are 
admirably adapted to the continual warmth of the climate. 
They do not build them in villages or towns, but separate 
each from the other, according to the size of the estate the 
owner of the house possesses. They are always in the 
woods; and no more ground is cleared for each house than 
is just sufficient to hinder the dropping off the branches from 
rotting the thatch with which they are covered, so that you 
step from the house immediately under shade, and that the 
most beautiful imaginable. No country can boast such 
delightful walks as this; for the whole plains where the 
people live are covered with groves of bread-fruit and cocoa- 
nut trees without underwood. These are intersected in all 
directions by the paths which go from one house to the 
other, so that the whole country is one shade, than which 
nothing can be more grateful in a climate where the sun has 
so powerful an influence. The houses are built without 
walls, so that the air, cooled by the shade of the trees, has 
free access in whatever direction it happens to blow. I 
