Page:An account of the natives of the Tonga Islands.djvu/393

Rh THE TONGA ISLANDS. 327 veiy seldom came down ; and when they did, and saw fish for the first time, would not be- lieve but what they were hotooas, (gods,) and wondered very much to see people eat them. The mountains on the western side, called Ta- cownove, are the highest On the base of one of these mountains are two hot springs, situated near together, at which a neighbouring garri- son generally boil their yams and plantains, by putting them into a vessel with holes in the side, and suffering the boiling water to pass through it*. The natives of the Fiji islands are much more curly headed than those of the Tonga islands ; and all of them, both men and wo- men, powder their hair with the ashes of the bread-fruit leaf, or with powdered lime, pre- pared from the coral, or else with soot col- lected from the smoke of the tooi-tooi. The pulverized lime is only worn now and then with a view to stiffen their hair, which it does remarkably well. In using either of these sub- stances, they plentifully diffuse it through water, in which they dip their heads ; and when the hair is dry they dip again, repeating this operation three or four times : the hair be- weeks, saw the steam arising from these springs, but lie had aaot an opportunity of approaching the spot.
 * Jeremiah Higgins, who was at these islands thirteen