The natives make use of no other dress than the cap, which they wear on their heads, but a few leaves, or a bunch of dried grass, are usually secured round the middle by the people of both sexes, while the younger, naturally unconscious of indecency, go entirely naked.  The vertebrae of snakes, the bones of fowls and birds, as well as sheep, broken shells, small beads, and pieces of cocoa nut shell are put in requisition by the natives, for the ornament of their persons.  A profusion of these strung together hang round the waist, which it seems to be the principal care to decorate in this manner, while their necks are scarcely less favoured with a proportion of these articles.  Strings of them are also fastened round the arms and legs, but not in such quantities as round the waist.  The pieces of hoop they have obtained from the ships which have visited the island, are formed into rude knives, or polished, and worn on the arm, in a kind of band made of straw, and are much valued.  In their first intercourse with Europeans, the natives were very shy, and displayed much fear, but this gradually wore off, and they now venture boldly on board for the purpose of obtaining knives, hatchets, or any thing they can get.  They have a few canoes of small dimensions, capable of containing ten or twelve people, but are not very expert in the management of them, although they are so far advanced as to make use of a mast and sail, which latter is constructed of a sort of mat.  They seem to be little addicted to the water, and none were seen amongst them; who could swim.  In their fishing excursions, the natives are generally very successful, and those who pursue this mode of obtaining their livelihood, are compelled to adhere to it, and allowed to have nothing to do with cultivating the land.  They exchange their fish for yams, and thus the wants of the fishermen and the cultivators are both supplied.

On the first visit of ships to this island, very considerable aversion was shown by the natives to any of their people attempting to go to their huts, or even to their endeavouring to penetrate into the woods, although only a short distance from the shore, from a fear perhaps of their plantations being plundered.  Their huts, which are of the rudest construction imaginable, may be distinctly seen amongst the trees in small groups, surrounding a clear space of ground, in which they cultivate the yam, and are formed of a few stakes driven firmly into the ground, thatched over with the palm leaf, the sides being completed with a sort of wicker work.  They are about ten or twelve feet long, and half that in breadth, and not more than four or five feet in height.  Their only furniture consists of some long flat pieces of wood, raised a few inches from the ground, and slightly hollowed out, to answer the purpose of sleeping in.