5 l8
quadruped ; and there are no ferpents. The fea, however, fupplies them with greatvariety of excellent fifh.
With regard to the people, they are in general rather of a larger make than Eu-ropeans. The males are tall, robuft, and finely fhaped, The females of the fuperiorclafs are likewife generally above our common fize ; but thofe of the lower rank arerather below it, and fome of them are remarkably little.
Their natural complexion is a fine clear olive, or what we call brunette; their Ikin isdelicately fmooth and agreeably foft. The fhape of their faces is in general handfome,and their eyes are full of fenfibility and expreffion ; their teeth are likewife remarkablywhite and regular, and their breath intirely free from any difagreeable fmell; their hairis, for the moll part, black. Both fexes always eradicate the hair from their arm-pits,and they often reproached the Englifh gentlemen with a want of cleanlinefs for notmaking ufe of the fame method. Their motions are eafy and graceful, but notvigorous ; their deportment is generous and open, and their behaviour affable andcourteous.
Both fexes frequently wear a piece of cloth of the manufadlure of the ifland tiedround their heads in the form of a turban; and the women take no little pains inplaiting human hair into long firings, which being folded into branches, are tied ontheir foreheads by way of ornament.
They ftain their bodies, by indenting or pricking the flefh with a fmall inftrumentmade of bone, cut into fhort teeth ; which indentures they fill with a dark blue or blackifhmixture, prepared from the fmoke of an oily nut, burnt by them inflead of candles,and water; this operation, which is called by the natives tattaowing, is exceedinglypainful, and leaves an indelible mark on the fkin. It is ufually performed when theyare about ten or twelve years of age, and on different parts of the body ; but thofewhich fuffer mofl feverely are the breech and the loins, which are marked with arches,carried one above another a confiderable way up their backs.
At the operation of tattaowing, performed upon the pofteriors of a girl about twelveyears of age, Mr. Banks was prefent; it was executed with an inftrument that hadtwenty teeth, and at each a ftroke, which was repeated every moment, ferum mixedwith blood iffued. She bore it with great refolution for feveral minutes ; but at lengththe pain became fo violent, that fhe murmured and complained, and then burft into themoft violent lamentations ; but her operator was inexorable, whilft fome females pr e 'fent chid and even beat her. Mr. Banks was a fpeclator for near an hour, duringwhich time it was performed only on one fide, the other having undergone the cere-mony fome time before; and the arches upon the loins, which are the moft painful, butupon which they the moft pique themfelves, were yet to be made.
They clothe themfelves in cloth and matting of various kinds; the firft they wearfair, the latter in wet weather. They are in different forms, no fhape being prefervedin them; nor are the pieces fewed together. The women of a fuperior clafs wear threeor four pieces; one, which is of confiderable length, they wrap feveral times roundtheir waifts, and it falls down to the middle of the leg. Two or three other fhort pieces,with a hole cut in the middle of each, are placed on one another, and their heads cofluuf?through the holes, the long ends hang before and behind, both fides being open, bywhich means they have the free ufe of their arms. r
The men’s drefs is very fimilar, differing only in one inftance, which is that part othe garment inflead of falling below the knees, is brought between the legs. . Tbi sdrefs is worn by all ranks of people, the only diflindtion being quantity in t . e
fuperi° r