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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
introduced, than the appearance of their hair. I have 
often seen one who was an idolater, or who had hut 
recently embraced Christianity, and whose hair was 
uncut and his beard unshaven, standing in a group of 
Christians, and I have been struck with the contrast. 
Sometimes the men plucked the beard out by the 
roots, shaved it off with a shark’s tooth, or removed it 
with the edges of two shells, acting like the blades of 
a pair of scissors, by cutting against each other; while 
others allowed the heard to grow, sometimes twisting 
and braiding it together. These fashions, however, 
have all disappeared, and the beard is generally shaved 
at least once a week, and by the chiefs more frequently. 
These cut their whiskers rather singularly sometimes, 
and leave a narrow strip of their heard on the upper 
lip, resembling mustachios : the greater part, however, 
remove the heard altogether, which must often be no 
easy task. There are no barbers by profession, yet 
every man is not his own barber, but contrives to shave 
his neighbour, and is in return shaved by him. Some of 
the most ludicrous scenes ever exhibited in the islands 
occur while they are thus employed. Only a few of 
the chiefs are so far advanced in civilization as to use 
soap ; the farmers cannot understand how it can help 
to remove the beard, they therefore dispense with it 
altogether. When the edge of the razor or knife is 
adjusted, the person to undergo the operation, in order 
to be quite stationary, lies flat on his back on the 
ground, sometimes in his house, at other times under 
the shade of a tree, and his friend kneels down 
over him, and commences his labour. When he has 
finished, he lays himself down, and the man who is 
shaved gets up, and performs the same office for 
