128 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
CHAP. VI. 
Habits of the Islanders—Unsocial in domestic life— 
Humiliating circumstances of the females—Irregular 
mode of life—Time of taking food—Cleanliness—Fre¬ 
quent bathing—Manner of wearing the hair, and remov¬ 
ing the beard—Artificial flowers—Native toilet—Occu¬ 
pations—Agriculture—Implements, &c.—Fishing—En¬ 
closures—Salmon and other nets—Use of the spear— 
Various kinds of hooks and lines—The vaa-tira— 
Fishing by torch light — Canoes used among the 
islands—Origin of the name — Skreened canoe and 
Maihi. 
The habits of the South Sea Islanders were in 
many respects interesting and commendable ; yet 
in these, as in their moral character and disposi¬ 
tions, they often presented the most strange con¬ 
tradictions. Patriotism and public spirit were 
often strongly manifested. In their universal pas¬ 
sion for public amusements they appear a social 
people, yet their domestic habits were unsocial 
and cheerless. This is probably to be attributed 
to the invidious distinction established by their 
superstition, and enforced by tabu between the 
sexes. 
The father and the mother, with their chil¬ 
dren, never, as one social happy band, surrounded 
the domestic hearth, or, assembling under the 
grateful shade of the verdant grove, partook toge¬ 
ther, as a family, of the bounties of Providence. 
The nameless but delightful emotions, experienced 
