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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
native with the modern European costume. Their dress 
thus indicated, equally with their half-native and half- 
foreign dwellings, the peculiar plastic, forming state of 
the nation, and the advancement of that process which 
was then constantly imparting to it some fresh impres¬ 
sion, and developing new traits of character with rapid 
and delightful progression. 
As the natives experienced the convenience of the 
new dresses, their desire for them increased^ and the 
long loose dress soon became an every-day garment, 
while others of a finer texture, made after the European 
fashion, were procured for holidays and special occasions. 
From making plain, straight-forward garments, the more 
expert were anxious to advance still higher; and in 
process of time, frills appeared round the neck; and, 
ultimately, caps covered the heads, and shoes and stock¬ 
ings clothed the feet. Our assemblies now assumed 
quite a civilized appearance, every one, whose means were 
sufficient to procure it, dressing in a garment of 
European cloth. 
These changes in the exterior of the people were 
sometimes attended with rather humorous circumstances. 
I shall not soon forget the first time the queen, and 
about half a dozen of the chief women of Huahine, appeared 
in public, wearing the caps which had been sent as a 
present by some ladies in England. It was some time 
after the adoption of the English dress. When they 
first entered with their bonnets on, much surprise was 
not excited; but when these were removed, and the cap 
appeared, they viewed each other for some time most 
significantly, without, however, saying a word, yet 
each seeming to wonder whether her head, with its new 
appendages, resembled in appearance that of her neigh- 
