THE PACIFIC OCEAN. 
137 
are made of feathers entirely white, with variegated bor¬ 
ders. The helmet has a Itrong lining of wicker-work, ca¬ 
pable of breaking the blow of any warlike inftrument, and 
feems evidently deligned for that pnrpofe. 
Thefe feathered drelfes feemed to be exceedingly fcarce, 
appropriated to perfons of the highelt rank, and worn by 
the men only. During the whole time we lay in Karaka- 
kooa Bay, we never faw them ufed but on three occasions: 
in the curious ceremony of Terreeoboo’s firfh vilit to the 
Ihips ; by fome Chiefs, who were feen among the crowd on 
fhore, when Captain Cook was killed; and, afterward, when 
Eappo brought his bones to us. 
The exadt refemblance between this habit, and the cloak 
and helmet formerly worn by the Spaniards, was too link¬ 
ing not to excite our curiolity to inquire, whether there 
were any probable grounds for fuppoling it to have been 
borrowed from them. After exerting every means in our 
power, of obtaining information on this fubjedt, we found 
that they had no immediate knowledge of any other nation 
whatever; nor any tradition remaining among them of 
thefe illands having been ever vilited before by fuch fhips 
as ours. But, notwithftanding the refult of thefe inquiries, 
the uncommon form of this habit appears to me a fufkcient 
proof of its European origin; efpecially when added to ano¬ 
ther circumstance, that it is a lingular deviation from the 
general refemblance in drefs, which prevails amongft all the 
branches of this tribe, difperfed through the South Sea. 
We were driven indeed, by this conclulion, to a fuppolition 
of the Ihipwreck of fome Buccaneer, or Spanilh fhip, in 
the neighbourhood of thefe illands. But when it is recol- 
ledted, that the courfe of the Spanilh trade from Acapulco 
to the Manillas, is but a few degrees to the Southward of 
Vol. III. T the 
1779 - 
March. 
