177®- The women, contrary to the cuftom of the fex in general,
_ v _ '— j feemed to affedt drefs rather lefs than the men: their hair,
which, as I have obferved before, is generally cropt fhort, is
never tied upon the top of the head when it is fuffered to be
long, nor is it ever adorned with feathers. Their garments
were made of the fame materials, and in the fame form, as
thofe of the other fex, but the lower one was always bound
fall round them, except when they went into the water to
catch lobfters, and then they took great care not to be feen
by the men. Some of us happening one day to land upon a
fmall ifiand'in Tolaga Bay, we furprized feveral of them at
this employment; and the chafle Diana, with her nymphs,
could not have difcovered more confufion and diftrefs at the
fight of Adlaton, than thefe women exprelfed upon our approach.
Some of them hid themfelves among the rocks,
and the reft crouched down in the fea till they had made
themfelves a girdle and apron of fuch weeds as they could
find, and when they, came out, even with this veil, "we could
perceive that their, modefty fuffered much pain by our prer
fence.. The girdle and apron which they wear, in common,
have' been mentioned, before,
Both fexes: bore, their ears, and'by ftretchihg them the
holes become, large enough to admit a finger at leaft. In
thefe. holes , they wear ornaments of various kinds, : cloth,.,
feathers,. bones;of. large birds, and even fbmatimes a flick of
wood ; and to thefe. receptacles of .finery they, generally applied
the nails which we gave them, and every thing which
it was poffible.the.y could contain. The women fometimes.
thruft. through-them the down-of the albatrofs, which is as
white as fnaw, and.which, .fpyeading before and behind the
hole- in a bunch, almoft as big as the fill, makes a very fin,
gular, and. however ftrange it may be thought, not a dif—.
agreeable.:.
agreeable appearance. Befides the ornaments that are thruft
through the holes of the ears, many others are fufpended to t— .—
them by firings ; fuch as chiffels or bodkins made of green
talc, upon which they fet a high value, the nails and teeth
of their deceafed relations, the teeth of dogs, and every
thingelfe that they can get, which they think either curious
or valuable. The women alfo- wear bracelets and anclets,
made of the bones of birds, fhells-, or any other fubftances
which they can perforate and firing upon a thread. The
men had fometimes hanging to a firing, which went round
the neck, a piece of green talc, or whalebone, fomewhat in.
the fhape of a tongue, with the rude figure of a man carved
upon it;-and upon this ornament they fet a high value. In
one inftance, we faw the griftle that divides the noftrils, and
called by anatomifts, the feptum naß, perforated, and a feather
thruft through the hole, which projefted on each fide-
over the cheeks: it is probable that this frightful Angularity
was intended as an ornament, but. of the many people we
faw, we never obferved it in any other, nor even a perforation
that might, occafionally ferve for fuch a purpofe.
Their houfes are the mod inartificially made.of anything Houfcw-
among them, being fcarcely equal, except in fize, to an
Englifli dog-kennel: they are feldorn more than eighteen
or twenty feet- long, eight or ten broad, and five or fix high,
from the pole that runs from-one-end to the other, and forms
the ridge, to the ground: the framingfs of wood, generally
flender flicks, and-both walls- and roof confift of dry grafs *
and bay, which, it-muft be confeffed, is very tightly put together;
and fome are alfo lined with-the bark, of trees, fo->
that in cold weather they muft afford a very comfortable re,
treat.. The roof is Hoping, like thofe of our barns,.and the
door is at one end, juft high enough to admit a man, creeping
upon his. hands and knees : near the.door is a fquare:
' hole»,