NEW ZEALAND. 



411 



worn, though they are gradually disappearing, and the dress is 

 becoming more European, or rather Tahitian. The women now 

 often wear loose slips of calico, drawn about the neck, which are any 

 thing but becoming, while the men have coarse clothing, sometimes 

 a dirty white blanket, at others, different parts of European dress. 

 The blanket is worn in the same manner as the native " kakahu." 



---^-^Sggiffig 





NEW ZEALAND WOMAN AND CHJLD. 



They never think it necessary to use clothing for a covering ; it is 

 worn more from pride and ostentation than any thing else ; and not 

 unfrequently a native may be seen decked out in a coat and vest 

 without any covering on his nether limbs, and occasionally with a 

 pea-jacket and no shirt. That which gives a foreigner a peculiar 

 disgust to the persons of the New Zealanders, is their filth, which 

 also pervades their houses. They seldom, if ever, bathe themselves, 

 or wash their clothes, which are usually worn until they drop off 

 from age. They occasionally anoint their skins with fish-oil, and 

 of course cannot be expected to keep themselves clean. 



To their houses, the description of Cook still applies : they are 

 small, low, begrimed with soot, besmeared with grease, and are filled 

 with filth. As yet, their furniture has received no addition from their 

 intercourse with the whites, except the huge sea-chest and iron 

 pot : the former to deposit their valuables in, and the latter for cook- 

 ing. It was remarked by us all, how few of the grotesque figures, so 



