PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
125 
poses it to be a refinement of voluptuousness, the only eiid of 
which is that of preserving to the part always covered the great- 
er irritability when it ceases to be so. Those ligatures are put 
on from a refinement in modesty, not in depravity; the uncovered 
extremity of this member is the only part which they believe they 
should be ashamed to show, and when this is secured by the afore¬ 
said ligature every other covering may be laid aside without vio¬ 
lating decency; it is rarely worn except when they are in every 
other respect naked, and then even where most private and when 
occupied in fishing, and the greater part of the time in the water, 
this covering is carefully kept on, and nothing whatever can in¬ 
duce them at such times to dispense with it. Is this depravity? 
Is this want of modesty? or is it not rather holding up an exam¬ 
ple of decency to civilized man, who, with the most unblushing 
disregard to shame on such occasions, exposes to view a part 
which the merest savage assiduously conceals? 
The shark’s tooth is also used by the women to scarify 
themselves, to show the excess of their grief, particularly on the 
death of a husband; but like those of other parts of the world, on 
such occasions, their grief, (if excessive) is not lasting. 1 have 
seen a woman, whose wounds were still unhealed; deep wounds 
inflicted on her neck, breast, and arms for the loss of her hus¬ 
band, who had been devoured by a shark; she presented herself at 
our village and joined in the general traffic of favours,. 
Their implements for the manufacture of cloths consist only 
of a beater and a smooth log; they are both of that kind of hard 
wood of which the war clubs are made: the beater is about eigh¬ 
teen inches in length, one end of which is rounded for the handle, 
the rest is squared and slightly grooved the length of the square; 
the whole operation of making the cloth consists in beating the 
bark out on the log to the size required, keeping it wet and gent¬ 
ly stretched with one hand, while the other is employed with the 
beater. This employment is left to the old women, who will make 
three outer garments or cahoos in the course of a day; the cloth 
is remarkably neat and regular, nearly as strong as fine cotton or 
linen, but will not bear washing more than once, and they are 
worn about a week before they are washed, after they are washed 
they are beat out again to give them a gloss and strength. Thus 
