five and six
inches long, it reaches quite across the face, and so effectually stops
up both the nostrils that they are forced to keep their mouths wide open
for breath, and snuffle so when they attempt to speak, that they are
scarcely intelligible even to each other. Our seamen, with some humour,
called it their spritsail-yard; and indeed it had so ludicrous an
appearance, that till we were used to it, we found it difficult to
refrain from laughter.[91] Beside this nose-jewel, they had necklaces
made of shells, very neatly cut and strung together; bracelets of small
cord, wound two or three times about the upper part of their arm, and a
string of plaited human hair about as thick as a thread of yarn, tied
round the waist. Besides these, some of them had gorgets of shells
hanging round the neck, so as to reach cross the breast. But though
these people wear no clothes, their bodies have a covering besides the
dirt, for they paint them both white and red: The red is commonly laid
on in broad patches upon the shoulders and breast; and the white in
stripes, some narrow, and some broad: The narrow were drawn over the
limbs, and the broad over the body, not without some degree of taste.
The white was also laid on in small patches upon the face, and drawn in
a circle round each eye. The red seemed to be ochre, but what the white
was we could not discover; it was close-grained, saponaceous to the
touch, and almost as heavy as white lead; possibly it might be a kind of
_Steatites_, but to our great regret we could not procure a bit of it to
examine. They have holes in their ears, but we never saw any thing worn
in them. Upon such ornaments as they had, they set so great a value,
that they would never part with the least article for any thing we could
offer; which was the more extraordinary as our beads and ribbons were
ornaments of the same kind, but of a more regular form and more showy
materials. They had indeed no idea of traffic, nor could we communicate
any to them: They received the things that we gave them; but never
appeared to understand our signs when we required a return. The same
indifference which prevented them from buying what we had, prevented
them also from attempting to steal: If they had coveted more, they would
have been less honest; for when we refused to give them a turtle, they
were enraged, and attempted to take it by force, and we had nothing
else upon which they seemed to set the least value; for, as I h