HATS AND BONNETS. 
399 
without seeming to experience more than usual 
inconvenience. I never heard them complain of 
the heat; and the cause of their apparent insensi¬ 
bility to its oppressive influence is probably to be 
found in their being early exposed, and constantly 
habituated, to the climate. 
Early in the year 1820, another important 
change took place in the dress of the Society Is¬ 
landers ; affecting not only their appearance, but 
tending perhaps ultimately to alter their physical 
structure. This was the introduction of hats and 
bonnets. If the skulls of those nations that wear 
no covering on their heads, are thicker than those 
who do, there is reason to suppose the craniums of 
the Tahitians will be much thinner in a few gene¬ 
rations, than they have been prior to this period ; 
since, from their earliest history, they appear to 
have gone abroad bareheaded. The inhabitants 
formerly wore a kind of bonnet, or rather shade 
for the eyes, made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut, 
in a variety of forms, many of them tasteful and 
elegant. They were called taupoo or taumata, 
and, as the latter name signifies, were designed to 
skreen the face or eyes; it being composed of tau , 
to hang upon or cover, and mata , face or eyes. It 
was worn on the forehead immediately below the 
hair, and fastened by a narrow leaflet passing 
round the back of the head above each of the ears, 
leaving the whole of the back and upper part of 
the head entirely exposed. 
The first native bonnet we have heard of, as 
manufactured in the islands, was finished while 
we resided in Afareaitu, by Mrs. Ellis. It was 
made for our infant daughter, with leaflets of the 
fan-leaved palm, brought from the Marquesas; 
and the first hat we ever saw that had been made 
