POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
533 
pearl shell that must have been cut, ground down to the 
required thickness, polished, and perforated, without iron 
tools, before a single line could be fixed upon the head¬ 
dress, required a degree of patience that is surprising. 
This part covered the breast of the wearer; a succes¬ 
sion of pieces of black and yellow cloth fastened to the 
pearl-shell netting, surrounded the body, and reached 
sometimes to the loins, to the knees, or even to the 
ankles. The beautiful mother-of-pearl shell net-work 
was fringed with feathers ; a large bunch of man-of-war- 
bird’s plumage was fixed at each end of the hoard, and 
two elegantly shaped feather tassels, hanging from each 
end, were attached to the light board by cords, also 
covered with feathers. 
In one hand the heva carried a paeho, a terrific weapon 
about five feet long, one end rounded for a handle, the 
other broad and flat, and in shape not unlike a short 
scythe. The point was ornamented with a tuft of fea¬ 
thers, and the inner or concave side armed with a line of 
large, strong, sharks’ teeth, fixed in the wood by the 
fibres of the tough ieie. In the other hand he held a 
tete or kind of clapper, formed with a large and a smaller 
pearl-oyster shell, beautifully polished. 
The man thus arrayed led the procession, and con¬ 
tinued, as he walked along, to strike or jingle the shells 
against eacli other, to give notice of his approach. He 
was attended by a number of men and boys, painted 
with charcoal and red and white clay, as if they had 
endeavoured to render themselves as hideous as possible. 
They wore only a maro or girdle, and were covered with 
these coloured earths. Sometimes the body was painted 
red, with black and white stripes; at other times the 
face painted red or black, and the rest of the body red 
