498 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
rated on the edges, and barbed towards the point, is very 
destructive in a dexterous hand. Some of the natives of 
the Palliser Islands used the ihi^ javelin or short spear, 
while fighting at a distance. 
The dress and ornaments of the warriors of Tahiti, 
and the adjacent islands, were singular, and unlike those 
of savage nations, being often remarkably cumbersome. 
Their helmets, though less elegant and imposing than 
the fine Grecian-formed helmet of the Hawaiians, were 
adapted to produce considerable effect. Some of the 
Tahitians wore only a fillet or bandage round the tem¬ 
ples, but many had a quantity of cloth bound round in 
the form of a high turban, which not only tended to 
increase their apparent stature, but broke the force of a 
blow from a club, or a thrust from a spear. 
The most elegant head-dresses, however, were those 
worn by the inhabitants of the Austral Islands, Tubuai, 
Rurutu, &c. Their helmets were considerably diversified 
in form, some resembling a tight round cap, fitted closely 
to the head, with a light plume waving on the summit. 
Those used by the natives of Tubuai, and High Island, 
resembled an officer’s cocked hat, worn with the ends 
projecting over each shoulder, the front beautifully orna¬ 
mented with the green and red wing and tail feathers of 
a species of paroquet. The Rurutuan helmet* is graceful 
in appearance, and useful in the protection it affords to 
the head of the wearer. It was a cap fitted to the head, 
and reaching to the ears, made with thick stiff native 
cloth, or a cane frame-work. The lower part of the front 
is ornamented with bunches of beautiful red and green 
* A .Rurutuan helmet, a number of spears, a paeho, and many of the 
implements of war here described, have been deposited in the Missionary 
Museum, Austin Friars, London. 
