AÙSKt. fet with cock’s or owls feathers, is likewife fometimes fluck
in the hair as an ornament. A few of them alfo wear a
cap made of a green plantane leaf, or of matted work, on
their heads. Some twift their beard into a kind of rope,
but the greater number leave it in its natural form. The
cartilage between the noftrils is commonly perforated, and
in tire aperture, they wear a cylindrical ftone, ©r a bit of
reed, half an inch thick. The ears are pierced with a very
large hole, in which they wear a number of rings o f tortoife-
Ihell, or of a piece of white flrell an inch in diameter, and
three quarter’s of an inch broad. Sometimes one ring is.
fattened within the other, fo as to form a kind of chain'.
Round their neck, they fometimes pafs a firing, to which;
they fatten a flrell, or a fmall cylindrical Tpiece of green
nephritic ftone, refembling that which is common at New
Zeeland. Oh the left upper atm, they commonly have a;
bracelet made of a piece of coco-nut-fliell, either curioufly
carved, or plain and polilhed, between which they frequently
flick fome plant, as the euodia horlenfa *, the croton
variegation, lycopodium phlegmaria, -vitex trifolia,, or a fpecies of
epid'endrunu Some of them wear a belt, or fafli, of a kind of
eùarfe cloth, made of the innèr bark of a tree, which is.
commonly of a dark cinnamon colour. Round their middle
they tie a firing, and below that, they employ the leaves
* See Forft. Nov. Gener* Plantar.
of a plant like ginger f> for the fame purpofe, and in the A^l%.
fame manner as the natives of Mallicollo. Boys, as foon
as they attain the age of fix years, are already provided
with thefe leaves, which feems to confirm, what I have
obferved in regard to the Mallicollefe, viz. that they do not
employ this covering from motives of decency. Indeed it
had fo much the contrary appearance, that in the perfon of
every native of Tanna or Mallicollo, we thought we beheld
a living reprefentation of that terrible divinity, who protected
the orchards and gardens of the ancients. To complete
the lift of their ornaments, I mutt add their paints and
incifions. The paints are referved for the face; they are
red ochre, white lime, and a colour fliining like black lead ;
all thefe they mix with coco nut oil, and lay on the face in
oblique bars, two or three inches broad. The white colour
is feldom employed, but the red and black is more frequent,
and fometimes each covers one half of the face.
The incifions are chiefly made on the upper arm, and the
belly, and fupply the place of punftures, which are common
in the lighter-coloured race of men, who inhabit the
Eriendly and Society Iflands, New Zeeland, Eafter Ifland,.
and the Marquefas. They cut the flefti with a bamboo, or
fharp {hell, and apply a particular plant, which forms an;
elevated fear on the furface of the fkin, after it is healed;
Thefe fears are formed to reprefent flowers, and other fanf;
©f the order of fcitamitia.