“We regretted much that our restrained situation gave us so little opportunity of making observations on the country; for, during the whole day, we were seldom a hundred yards from the place where we were introduced to the chiefs on landing, and consequently, were confined to the surrounding objects.  The first thing that presented itself, worthy of our notice, was the number of people, which must have been at least two thousand.  For those who welcomed us on the shore bore no proportion to the multitude we found amongst the trees, on proceeding a little way up.”

“We could also observe, that, except a few, those we had hitherto seen on board were of the lower class; for a great number of those we now met with had a superior dignity in their air, and were of a much whiter cast.  In general, they had the hair tied on the crown of the head, long, black, and of a most luxuriant growth.  Many of the young men were perfect models in shape, of a complexion as delicate as that of the women, and, to appearance, of a disposition as amiable.  Others, who were more advanced in years, were corpulent; and all had a remarkable smoothness of the skin.  Their general dress was a piece of cloth, or mat, wrapped about the waist, and covering the parts which modesty conceals.  But some had pieces of mats, most curiously varied with black and white, made into a sort of jacket without sleeves; and others wore conical caps of cocoa-nut core, neatly interwoven with small beads, made of a shelly substance.  Their ears were pierced; and in them they hung bits of the membranous part of some plant, or stuck there an odoriferous flower, which seemed to be a species of gardenia.  Some, who were of a superior class, and also the chiefs, had two little balls, with a common base, made from the bone of some animal, which was hung round the neck, with a great many folds of small cord.  And after the ceremony of introduction to the chiefs was over, they then appeared without their red feathers, which are certainly considered here as a particular mark of distinction, for none but themselves, and the young women who danced, assumed them.”

“Some of the men were punctured all over the sides and back in an uncommon manner; and some of the women had the same ornament on their legs.  But this method was confined to those who seemed to be of a superior rank; and the men, in that case, were also generally distinguished by their size and corpulence, unless very young.  The women of an advanced age had their hair cropped short; and many were cut in oblique lines all over the fore-part of the body; and some of the wounds, which formed rhomboidal figures, had been so lately inflicted, that the coagulated blood still remained in them.”