hough, now and then, we have seen a man carry a burden at the same time,
but not often. I know not on what account this was done, nor that an armed
troop was necessary. At first, we thought they were moving out of the
neighbourhood with their effects, but we afterwards saw them both carry
out, and bring in, every day.
I cannot say the women are beauties, but I think them handsome enough for
the men, and too handsome for the use that is made of them. Both sexes are
of a very dark colour, but not black; nor have they the least
characteristic of the negro about them. They make themselves blacker than
they really are, by painting their faces with a pigment of the colour of
black-lead. They also use another sort which is red, and a third sort
brown, or a colour between red and black. All these, but especially the
first, they lay on with a liberal hand, not only on the face, but on the
neck, shoulders, and breast. The men wear nothing but a belt, and the
wrapping leaf as at Mallicollo. The women have a kind of petticoat made of
the filaments of the plantain-tree, flags, or some such thing, which
reaches below the knee. Both sexes wear ornaments, such as bracelets, ear-
rings, necklaces, and amulets. The bracelets are chiefly worn by the men;
some made of sea-shells, and others of those of the cocoa-nut. The men also
wear amulets; and those of most value being made of a greenish stone, the
green stone of New Zealand is valued by them for this purpose. Necklaces
are chiefly used by the women, and made mostly of shells. Ear-rings are
common to both sexes, and those valued most are made of tortoise-shell.
Some of our people having got some at the Friendly Islands, brought it to a
good market here, where it was of more value than any thing we had besides;
from which I conclude that these people catch but few turtle, though I saw
one in the harbour, just as we were getting under sail. I observed that,
towards the latter end of our stay, they began to ask for hatchets, and
large nails, so that it is likely they had found that iron is more
serviceable than stone, bone, or shells, of which all their tools I have
seen are made. Their stone hatchets, at least all those I saw, are not in
the shape of adzes, as at the other islands, but more like an axe. In the
helve, which is pretty thick, is made a hole into which the stone is fixed.
These people, besides the cultivation of ground, have few other arts worth
mentioning. They know how to
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