Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/292

234 stitches, something like carpeting or girls' samplers in various patterns, with an ingenuity truly surprising to any one who will reflect that they are without needles. They have also mats with which they sometimes cover themselves; but the great pride of their dress seems to consist in dogs' fur, which they use so sparingly that to avoid waste they cut it into long strips, and sew them at a distance from each other upon their cloth, often varying the colours prettily enough. When first we saw these dresses we took them for the skins of bears or some animal of that kind, but we were soon undeceived, and found upon inquiry that they were acquainted with no animal that had fur or long hair but their own dogs. Some there were who had their dresses ornamented with feathers, and one who had an entire dress of the red feathers of parrots; but these were not common.

The first man we saw when we went ashore at Poverty Bay, and who was killed by one of our people, had his dress tied exactly in the same manner as is represented in Mr. Dalrymple's account of Tasman's voyage, in a plate which I believe is copied from Valentijn's History of the East Indies; it was tied over his shoulders, across his breast, under his armpits, again across his breast, and round his loins. Of this dress we saw, however, but one more instance during our whole stay on the coast, though it seems convenient, as it leaves the arms quite at liberty, while the body is covered. In general, indeed, when they choose to set their arms at liberty, they at the same time free all their limbs by casting off their clothes entirely.

The men always wear short beards, and tie their hair in a small knot on the top of their heads, sticking into it a kind of comb, and at the top two or three white feathers. The women, contrary to the custom of the sex in general, seem to affect rather less dress than the men. Their hair, which they wear short, is seldom tied, and when it is, it is behind their heads, and never ornamented with feathers. Their cloths are of the same stuff, and in the same form, as those of the men.