166 Letter XT, 
which wears a crown,” so uneasy lies the Tanaman’s head thus 
dressed ; for he does not go to sleep upon a pillow, but places 
his neck over a round piece of wood which raises it a little bit 
from the ground—not very comfortable, one would think. But 
what is comfort to the lovers of fashion! The general appear- 
ance of the Tanaman’s head so dressed has a striking resem- 
blance to the representations of the ancient Egyptians ; and 
though I cannot say that it improves their appearance, it cer- 
tainly has the advantage of affording a better protection to the 
head from the sun’s rays than hair in its ordinary state would 
do. 
Their chief public amusements are the feast and the 
dance. I have not been able to witness either of those cere- 
monies, for it is only at certain seasons that they are held, and 
the season is now past. For a long time before they take 
place, preparations are going on—the women being busily oc- 
cupied in making curious dresses and gorgeous ornaments. 
After the feast is over, which consists merely of a profusion of 
their ordinary food, partaken of by the men alone : the women 
appear, and the dance commences, to the music of wooden 
drums and monotonous chants. These balls are kept up 
generally all night long: some of them are obscene in character, 
and all of them are attended, more or less, with bad results to 
the health of the natives, in consequence of their getting over- 
heated and then chilled. 
These dances are held in the open squares under the banyan 
trees, and at the side of each of these squares there may be 
seen a long-shaped hut standing by itself. This is the Kava- 
house, the meeting place for the men of the tribe. 
The kava (piper methisticum) is a plant of the pepper family, 
and grows ‘extensively upon the southern islands of the group, 
but nowhere better than in this district. It is five or six feet 
high, has articulated stem and branches,.and soft large leaves. 
