40 ELLICE'S AND KINGS MILL GROUP. 



manner in which they came alongside, it was evident they had had fre- 

 quent communication with vessels. They refused to come on board, 

 but exhibited various articles of traffic, consisting of cocoa-nuts, mats, 

 rolls of sennit, maros, large wooden fish-hooks, war-knives and swords 

 fitted with sharks' teeth, and some rough war-clubs. Their canoe 

 was in construction much more rude and rough than any met with 

 of similar size : it was about twenty feet long, dug out of a single 

 log, and the sides had strips lashed on to raise them higher. It 

 had an out-rigger and paddles very similar to those seen at the other 

 islands. 



These natives were, in general appearance, inferior to those of the 

 Samoan Islands, of middle size, and with deep brown complexions, 

 like the Hawaiians, whom they were thought also to resemble in 

 features ; but they were well provided with beard, in which respect 

 they resemble the Feejees. They wore their hair, which was thick 

 and bushy, long. One of them was observed to have it parted into 

 five or six large clubs of hair, hanging loose about his head, and 

 resembling large foxes' tails. 



NATIVE OP ELLICE'S ISLAND. 



They were tattooed differently from any heretofore seen, their arms 

 being covered, from the shoulder to the wrist, with small curved figures 

 or zigzag lines. They had this tattooing also on the body, extending 

 from the armpits to the waist, and down, until the whole body was 

 encompassed in the same manner. No marks were observed on the 

 face or legs, but on two of them were a few lines across the small of 

 the back. They wore no clothing, but a strip of fine matting, as a 

 maro, and a coarser piece tied about the hips : the first, which was 



