2Ö2
s '77«. hair upon the top of the head, and the women tie it in a
v— j club behind, but there is another difference in the liead-
drefs, by which the fexes are diftinguifhed: the women
wear nothing as a fuccedaneum for a cap, but the men con-
ftantly wrap fomething round their heads in the manner of
a fillet s it is fmall, but generally of the fineft materials that
can be procured: we faw fome who applied filk handkerchiefs
to this purpofe, and others that wore fine cotton, or
muflin, in the manner of a fmall turban.
Thefe people bore their teftimony that the love of finery.is
a univerfal paffion,:for their ornaments were very numerous.
Some of the better fort wore chains of gold round
their necks, but they were made of plaited wire, and con-
fequently were light and of little value; others had rings,
which were fo much worn that they feemed to have defcend-
ed through many generations ; and one perfon had a filver-
headed cane, marked with a kind of cypher, confifting of
the Roman letters V, O, C, and therefore probably a prefent
from the Dutch Eaft India Company, whofe mark it is : they
have alfo ornaments made of beads, which fome wear round
their necks as a folitaire, and others, as bracelets, upon
their wrifts: thefe are common to both fexes, but the women
have befides, firings or girdles of beads, which they wear
round their waills, and which ferve to keep up their petticoat.
Both fexes had their ears bored, nor was there a Angle
exception that fell under our notice, yet we never faw an ornament
in any of them; we never indeed faw either man or
woman in any thing but what appeared to be their ordinary
drefs, except the King and his minifter, who. in general
wore a kind of night-gown of coarfe chintz, and one of
whom once received us in a black robe, which appeared to
be made of what is called prince’s fluff. We faw fome boys,
about twelve or fourteen years old, who had fpiral circles
« f
wjrwy
R O U N D T H E W O R L D . 283
of thick brafs wire paffed three or four times round their 177°-
1 1 n n . r September. £ arms, above the elbow, and fome men wore rings or s_ j
ivory, two inches in breadth, and above an inch in thick-
nefs, upon the fame part of the arm: thefe, we were told,
were the fons of the Rajas, or Chiefs, who wore thefe cumbrous
ornaments as badges of their high birth.
Almofl all the men had their names traced upon their
arms, in indelible charadlers of a black colour, and the
women had a fquare ornament of flourifhed lines, imprefTed
in the fame manner, juft under the bend of the elbow. We
were ftruck with the fimilitude between thefe marks, and
thofe made by tattowing in the South Sea iflands, and upon
enquiring into its origin, we learnt that it had been pradtifed
by the natives long before any Europeans came among
them; and that in the neighbouring iflands the inhabitants
were marked with circles upon their necks and breafts. The
univerfality of this practice, which prevails among favages
in all parts of the world, from the remoteft limits of North
America, to the iflands in the South Seas, and which probably
differs but little from the method of ftaining the body
that was in ufe among the ancient inhabitants of Britain, is
a curious fubjedt of fpeculation *.
The houfes of Savu are all built upon the fame plan, and
differ only in fize, being large in proportion to the rank and
* In the account which Mr. Boffu has given of fome Indians who inhabit the banks
o f the Akanza, a river o f North America, which rifes in New Mexico, and falls
into the Miffiflippi, he relates the following incident: “ T h e Akanzas, fays he, have
adopted me, and as a mark o f my privilege, have imprinted the figure o f a roe-buck
upon my thigh, which was done in this manner: an Indian having burnt fome ftraw,
diluted the afhes with water, and with this mixture, drew the figure upon my Ikin j he
then retraced it, by pricking the lines with needles, fo as at every pun&ure juft to draw
the blood, and the blood mixing with the allies of the ftraw, forms a figure which can
never be effaced.” See Travels through Louifiana, vol. i. p. 107.
N n 2 riches