THROUGH HAWAII. 
165 
theirs. Not to cut or shave off the hair, indicates want 
of respect towards the deceased and the surviving 
friends, but to have it cut close in any form is enough. 
Each one usually follows his own taste, which pro¬ 
duces the endless variety in which this ornamental 
appendage of the head is worn by the natives during a 
season of mourning. 
Another custom, almost as universal on these occa¬ 
sions, was that of knocking out some of the front teeth, 
practised by both sexes, though perhaps most exten¬ 
sively by the men. When a chief died, those most 
anxious to shew their respect for him or his family would 
be the first to knock out with a stone one of their front 
teeth. The chiefs related to the deceased, or on terms 
of friendship with him, were expected thus to exhibit 
their attachment; and when they had done so, their at¬ 
tendants and tenants felt themselves, by the influence 
of custom, obliged to follow their example. Sometimes 
a man broke out his own tooth with a stone ; more fre¬ 
quently, however, it was done by another, who fixed 
one end of a piece of stick or hard wood against the 
tooth, and struck the other end with a stone, till it was 
broken off. When any of the men deferred this opera¬ 
tion, the women often performed it for them while they 
were asleep. More than one tooth was seldom de¬ 
stroyed at one time ; but the mutilation being repeated 
on the decease of every chief of rank or authority, there 
are few men to be seen, who had arrived at maturity 
before the introduction of Christianity to the islands, 
with an entire set of teeth ; and many by this custom 
have lost the front teeth on both the upper and lower 
jaw, which, aside from other inconveniences, causes a 
great defect in their speech. Some, however, have 
