4S 
ELLICE’S AND KINGSMILL GROUP. 
round, with the tail sticking upwards, and the two fins acting as a 
covering and guard for the ears: its colour is perfectly white, and by 
its toughness and spines affords protection against the native weapons. 
drummond’s island warriors. 
The ornaments which the natives wore, were strings of beads and 
human hair. The beads were strung alternately, black and white, 
and were made of shell and of cocoanut-wood. The strings of human 
hair resembled watch-guards, and some of them were of the size of 
packthread. Although the manufacture of this article must have been 
tedious, yet a great quantity of it was brought off, and bartered for 
some plugs of tobacco, and a few whales’ teeth. Their mats, likewise, 
constituted an ornament: they were slips of the pandanus braided, and 
some of these had been bleached, and were of a light straw-colour; 
others were unbleached and brown: these were interwoven together, 
so as to produce many kinds of figures, in squares, lozenges, and dia¬ 
monds. They wore these folded twice, so as to form a triple thickness, 
which they passed over one shoulder as a scarf, or round the body, 
securing it with a cord of human hair; the folds of this answered the 
purposes of pockets, for putting away the tobacco and other articles 
they had obtained by barter. In default of a mat, they used the lining 
or upper part of their hat or cap. These mats are about three feet 
wide by six long. 
