POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
119 
The attention of the people to personal decoration 
rendered looking-glasses valuable articles of trade in 
their early intercourse with foreigners; and although 
the habit has very much declined^ and their taste with 
regard to ornament, &c. is materially changed, looking - 
glasses are still, with many, desirable articles. Those, 
however, who have furnished them, have often made a 
mistake in sending, on account of their cheapness, an 
inferior kind, which, in consequence of a defect in 
the glass, exhibits the face in a distorted and ludi¬ 
crous shape. Nothing will more offend a Tahitian 
than to ask him to look in one of these glasses. They 
call them hxo maamaa, foolish glasses, and, instead of 
purchasing them, would sometimes hardly be induced 
to accept them as presents. 
Since the introduction of Christianity, the use of 
flowers in the hair, and fragrant oil, has been in a great 
degree discontinued—^partly from the connexion of those 
ornaments with the evil practices to which they were 
formerly addicted, and partly from the introduction of 
European caps and bonnets, the latter being now uni¬ 
versally worn. 
