152 ORNAMENTS OF THE NATIVES. 
When not received from friends, they may be 
piircliased by strangers for a mere trifle. Those 
hung round the neck are large, and have the un- 
couth figure of a man carved upon them ; with 
two pieces of mother-of-pearl fixed in, to repre- 
sent the white of the eye ; but more frequently 
sealing-wax is used, when it can be obtained, for 
tliat purpose. This ornament is made use of to 
put the wearer in remembrance of some person 
recently slain, but whose body they have no hope 
of ever more beholding. When a friend arrives, 
from whom they have been some time absent, the 
heitiki is taken from the neck, and other friends are 
called in ; the ornament is then laid down upon a 
clean leaf, or a small tuft of grass, and placed in 
the centre of them. It is called by the name of the 
individual whom it is intended to represent; then 
wept over and caressed with apparent affection ; 
and all present cut themselves deeply and severely, 
as a token of the regard and love which they bore 
to the departed. This custom is carried to a great 
extent among the females of New Zealand. 
Pieces of whalebone are sometimes worn, tied 
to the fringe of the outer garment, smoothed and 
rounded oflF, and cut into lengths of a few inches 
each. The ornaments in the ear are of all kinds, 
and of fantastic shapes — long, short, square, round, 
rough, smooth, large or small, according to the 
fancy of the wearer : but that which is most highly 
valued, is the shark's tooth, which is beautifully 
w^hite, with a little red sealing-wax melted on the 
