cially in pacing, which is their common, ftep: the inhabitants
generally ride them without a faddle, and with no
better bridle than a halter. The £heep are of the kind
which in England are called Bengal fheep, and differ from
ours in many particulars. They are covered with hair inftead
o f wool, their ears are very large, and hang down
under their horns, and their nofcs are arched; they are
thought to have a general refemblance to a goat, and for
that reafon are frequently called cabritos: their flelh we
thought the worft mutton we had ever eaten, being as lean
as that of the buffalo’s, and without flavour. The hogs,
however, were fome of the fatteft we had ever feen, though,
as we were told, their principal food is the outlide hulks of
rice, and the palm fyrup diflolved in water. The fowls are
chiefly of the game breed, and large, but the eggs are remarkably
fmall.
Of the fifh which the fea produces here, we know but
little: turtles are fometimes found upon the coaft, and are
by thefe people, as well as all others, confide-red as a dainty.
The people are rather under, than over the middling fize j
the women efpecially are remarkably fhort and fquat built:
their complexion is a dark brown, and their hair univerfally
black and lank. We faw no difference in the colour of rich
and poor, though in the South Sea iflands thofe that were
expofed to the weather were ajmoft as brown as the New
Hollanders, and the better fort nearly as fair as the natives
of Europe. The men are in general well-made, vigorous,
and aftive, and have a greater variety in the make and dif-
pofition of their features than ufual: the countenances of the
women, on the contrary, are all alike.
The men fatten their hair up to the top of their heads
with a comb, the women tie it behind in a club, which is
very
■ very far from becoming. Both fexes eradicate the hair from '»?ƒ«>-
under the arm, and the men do the fame by their beards, v,— .---->
for which purpofe, the better fort always carry a pair of
rfilver pincers hanging by a firing round their necks; fome
however fuffer a very little hair to remain upon their upper
lips, but this is always kept fhort.
The drefs of both fexes confifts of cotton cloth, which
being died blue in the yarn, and not uniformly of the fame
fhade, is in clouds or waves of that colour, and even in our
eye had not an inelegant appearance. This cloth they manufacture
themfelves, and two pieces, each about two yards
long, and a yard and a half wide, make a drefs: one of
them is worn round the middle, and the other covers the
upper part of the body: the lower edge of the piece that
goes round the middle, the men draw pretty tight juft below
the fork, the upper edge of it is left loofe, fo as to form a
{kind of hollow belt, which ferves them as a pocket to carry
•their knives, and other little implements which it is convenient
to have about them. The other piece of cloth is patted
through this girdle behind, and one end of it being brought
over the left fhoulder, and the other over the right, they
fall down over the breaft, and are tucked into the girdle
•before, fo that by opening or clotting the plaits, they can
cover more or letts of their bodies as they pleafe ; the arms,
legs, and feet are always naked. The difference between
the drefs of the two fexes confifts principally in the manner
•of wearing the waift-piece,. for the women, inftead of drawing
the lower edge tight, and leaving the upper edge loofe
for a pocket, draw the upper edge tight, and let the lower
edge fall as low as the knees, fo as to form a petticoat; the
•body-piece, inftead of being patted through the girdle, is
fattened under the arms, and crofs the breaft, with the utmoft
decency. I have already obferved, that the men fallen the
Von. III. hi n hair