Both sexes wear necklaces, made of strings of small variegated shells; and an ornament, in the form of the handle of a cup, about two inches long, and half an inch broad, made of wood, stone, or ivory, finely polished, which is hung about the neck by fine threads of twisted hair, doubled sometimes an hundred fold.  Instead of this ornament, some of them wear on their breast a small human figure made of bone, suspended in the same manner.

The fan, or fly-flap, is also an ornament used by both sexes.  The most ordinary kind are made of the fibres of the cocoa-nut, tied loose in bunches to the top of a smooth polished handle.  The tail-feathers of the cock, and of the tropic-bird, are also used in the same manner; but the most valuable are those which have the handle made of the arm or leg bones of an enemy slain in battle, and which are preserved with great care, and handed down from father to son, as trophies of inestimable value.

The custom of tattowing the body, they have in common with the rest of the natives of the South Sea islands; but it is only at New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands, that they tattow the face.  There is also this difference between the two last, that in the former it is done in elegant spiral volutes, and in the latter in straight lines, crossing each, other at right angles.  The hands and arms of the women are also very neatly marked, and they have a singular custom amongst them, the meaning of which we could never learn, that of tallowing the tip of the tongues of the females.

From some information we received, relative to the custom of tattowing, we were inclined to think, that it is frequently intended as a sign of mourning on the death of a chief, or any other calamitous event.  For we were often, told, that such a particular mark was in memory of such a chief, and so of the rest.  It may be here too observed, that the lowest class are often tattowed with a mark, that distinguishes them as the property of the several chiefs to whom they belong.[8]

The dress of the men generally consists only of a piece of thick cloth called the maro, about ten or twelve inches broad, which they pass between the legs, and tie round the waist.  This is the common dress of all ranks of people.  Their mats, some of which are beautifully manufactured, are of various sizes, but mostly about five feet long and four broad.  These they throw over their shoulders, and bring forward before; but they are seldom used, except in time of war, for which purpose they seem better adapted than for ordinary use, being of a thick and cumbersome texture, and capable of breaking the blow of a stone, or any blunt weapon.  Their feet are generally bare, except when they have occasion to travel over the burnt stones, when they secure them with a sort of sandal, made of cords, twisted from the fibres of the cocoa-nut.  Such is the ordinary dress of these islanders; but they have another,