Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/365

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 299 decayed, and sending forth no very agreeable odour : this however was a circumstance they did not much regard, their object being the teeth, of the substance of which they make a kind of necklace, by cutting it into smaller pieces, each preserving the shape of a whale's tooth, from an inch to four inches long, having a hole in the broadest part, through which they are closely strung, and put round the neck ; the largest being in front, and the others de- creasing in size on each side, up to the back of the neck ; so that, when drawn close, their pointed extremities spread out, and form a very agreeable ornament upon their brown skins, and is much prized by them, on account of its scarcity as well as beauty. This has given rise to the accounts which voyagers have given that they wear teeth round their necks, whereas they are only forms of teeth cut out of the tooth of the whale ; and it is astonishing with what neatness they do this, making as little waste as would be possible to do with much better instruments than what they possess; which is nothing, in general, but a common shaped European chisel, or a piece of a saw, or in defect of these, a flattened nail rendered sharp : before they procured iron from Eu- ropean ships, they made use of a sharp stone. This kind of ivory they also use to inlay^ their