134 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
When the edge of the razor or knife is adjusted, 
the person to undergo the operation, in order to be 
quite stationary, lies flat on his back on the ground, 
sometimes im his house, at other times under the 
shade of a tree, and his friend kneels down over 
him, and commences his labour. When he has 
finished, he lays himself down, and the man who 
is shaved gets up, and performs the same office for 
his friend. Sometimes the razor becomes rather 
dull, and something more than a little additional 
strength is necessary. A whetstone is then applied 
to the edge; but if this be not at hand, the man 
gets up half shaved, and both go together to the 
nearest grindstone; and I have beheld that the 
transition from the grindstone to the chin is some- 
times direct, without any intermediate application 
to the edge of the razor. The hone and the strap, 
however, have been introduced, and ere long will 
probably supersede the use of the grindstone, and 
also of the whetstone. 
The islanders appear to have paid at all times 
great attention, not only to cleanliness, but to 
personal ornaments. On public occasions, their 
appearance was in a high degree imposing. At 
their dances, and other places of amusement or 
festivity, they wore a profusion of ornament, and 
on ordinary occasions, with the exception of the 
aged and decrepit, devoted much time to the 
improvement of their appearance. The hair of 
the females, which was neatly dressed, and some- 
times appeared in short loose curls, was an 
object of great attention; the eye-brows were 
also reduced, or shaped according to their ideas of 
beauty. The hair was ornamented with elegant 
native flowers, sometimes exhibited in great pro- 
fusion and variety, at others with only one or two 
