388 NEW ZEALAND. 



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 



•—"•-s^N^ 



NEW ZEALAND WOMAN AND CHILD. 



worn in the same manner as the native kakahu. 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 cooking. It 

 was remarked by us all, how few of the grotesque figures, so much 

 spoken of by voyagers, were to be seen. There appeared to be little 



