The common dress of the women bears a close resemblance to that of the men.  They wrap round the waist a piece of cloth, that reaches half way down the thighs; and sometimes in the cool of the evening they appeared with loose pieces of fine cloth, thrown over their shoulders, like the women of Otaheite.  The pau is another dress very frequently worn by the younger part of the sex.  It is made of the thinnest and finest sort of cloth, wrapt several times round the waist, and descending to the leg, so as to have exactly the appearance of a full short petticoat.  The hair is cut short behind, and turned up before, as is the fashion among the Otaheiteans and New Zealanders; all of whom differ, in this respect, from the women of the Friendly Islands, who wear their hair long.  We saw, indeed, one woman in Karakakooa Bay, Whose hair was arranged in a very singular manner; it was turned up behind, and brought over the forehead, and then doubled back, so as to form a sort of a shade to the face, like a small bonnet.

Their necklaces are made of shells, or of a hard shining red berry.  Besides which, they wear wreaths of dried flowers of the Indian mallow; and another beautiful ornament called eraie, which is generally put about the neck, but is sometimes tied like a garland round the hair, and sometimes worn in both these ways at once.  It is a ruff, of the thickness of a finger, made in a curious manner, of exceedingly small feathers, woven so close together as to form a surface as smooth as that of the richest velvet.  The ground was generally of a red colour, with alternate circles of green, yellow, and black.  Their bracelets, which were also of great variety, and very peculiar kinds, have been already described.

At Atooi, some of the women wore little figures of the turtle, neatly formed of wood or ivory, tied on their fingers in the manner we wear rings.  Why this animal is thus particularly distinguished, I leave to the conjectures of the curious.  There is also an ornament, made of shells, fastened in rows on a ground of strong netting, so as to strike each other when in motion; which both men and women, when they dance, tie either round the arm or the ankle, or below the knee.  Instead of shells, they sometimes make use of dog’s teeth, and a hard red berry, resembling that of the holly.

There remains to be mentioned another ornament (if such it may be called), which is a kind of mask, made of a large gourd, with holes cut in it for the eyes and nose.  The top was stuck full of small green twigs, which, at a distance, had the appearance of an elegant waving plume; and from the lower part hung narrow stripes of cloth, resembling a beard.  We never saw these masks worn but twice, and both times by a number of people together in a canoe, who came to the side of the ship, laughing and drolling, with an air of masquerading.  Whether they may not likewise be used as a defence for the head against stones, for which, they seem best designed; or in some of their public games; or be merely intended for the purposes of mummery, we could never inform ourselves.