shore was covered with pebbles and large stones; yet here were ten or twelve Indians swimming for their amusement. Whenever a surf broke near them, they dived under it, and rose again on the other side. The stern of an old canoe added much to their support; this they took before them, and swam out with it as far as the outermost breach; when two or three getting into it, and turning the square end to the breaking wave, were driven in toward the shore with incredible rapidity, sometimes almost to the beach; but generally the wave broke over them before they got half way, in which case they dived, and rose on the other side with the canoe in their hands, and swimming out with it again, were again driven back. They thus continued a considerable time, to the surprise of captain Cook, without attempting to come on shore, but seemed to enjoy the sport in the highest degree.

In other countries the men cut their hair short, and the women pride themselves in its length; but here the women always cut it short round their ears, and the men, except the fishers, who are almost continually in the water, suffer it to spread over their shoulders, or tie it up in a bunch on the top. They have the custom of discolouring the skin, by pricking it with a small instrument, the teeth of which are dipped into a mixture of a kind of lampblack; and this is called tattowing. This is performed upon the youth of both sexes, when they are about twelve or fourteen years of age, on several parts of the body, and in various figures. The women are generally marked in the form of an Z, on every joint of their fingers and toes, and frequently round the outside of their feet. The men are also marked with the same figure; and both men and women

THE NEW YORK PUBLIC 113RARY

ACTOR, LENOX ANG TH DEN FJUNBATIONE,

have squares, circles, crescents, ill-designed representations of men, birds or dogs, and various other devices impressed upon their legs and arms. But the part on which these ornaments are most lavished, is the breech, which in both sexes is covered with a deep black; above which arches are drawn one over another, as high as the short ribs. They are often a quarter of an inch broad, and the edges are not straight lines, but indented. The face, however, is generally left unmarked.

Their clothing consists of cloth or matting of different kinds. The cloth, which will not bear wetting, they wear in dry weather, and the matting when it rains. The dress of the women of rank consists of several pieces: one piece, about two yards wide, and eleven yards long, they wrap several times round their waist, so as to hang down like a petticoat as low as the middle of the leg: two or three other pieces, about two yards and a half long, and one wide, each having a hole cut in the middle, they place one upon another, and then putting the head through the holes, bring the long ends down before and behind, they remaining open at the sides to give liberty to the arms; they are gathered round the waist, and confined with a sash of thinner cloth. The dress of the men is the same, except that instead of suffering the cloth that is wound about their hips to hang down like a petticoat, they bring it between their legs, so as to have some resemblance to a pair of breeches. This is the dress of all ranks of people, only the inferior sorts are obliged to be more thinly clad.

Their dwellings are all built in the wood between the sea and the mountains, no more ground being cleared for each house, than is sufficient to prevent

the rain dropping from the trees upon them. They, therefore, step immediately from the house under the shade, which is the most delightful that can be imagined. It consists of bread-fruit and cocoa-nuts, intersected by paths that lead in all directions from one house to another. Nothing can be more grateful in so warm a climate, nor any thing more beautiful, than these walks. The houses of a middling size are of an oblong square, twenty-four feet long, and eleven wide, with a shelving roof supported on three rows of posts, parallel to each other; one row on each side, and one in the middle. The utmost height within is about nine feet, and the eaves on each side reach to within about three feet and a half from the ground. All the rest is open, no part being inclosed with a wall. The roof is thatched with palm-leaves, and the floor covered some inches deep with soft hay, over which they lay mats; so that the whole is one cushion, upon which they sit in the day and sleep in the night. In some houses, however, there is one stool for the master of the family. Besides this, they have little blocks of wood, the upper side of which is hollowed, and which serve them for pillows. The house is indeed principally used as a dormitory, for in fair weather they eat under the shade of the next tree. The clothes they wear in the day serve them for covering by night; and the floor, which is the common bed of the whole household, is not divided by any partition.

The chiefs have, however, houses of another kind, in which there is some degree of privacy. These are so small as to be carried about in their canoes, and set up occasionally; they are inclosed on the sides with cocoa-nut leaves, but not so close as to exclude the air; and the chief and his wife sleep in them alone.