Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/62

Rh mingling their tears, and moaning in company for some time; but if the absence has been of long duration, the female relatives of the absentee express their joy upon his return in a most extraordinary and painful manner: they scratch and disfigure their faces with broken pieces of shell, so as to produce considerable suffering.

This custom must prove exceedingly distressing, if the male branches of a family were much in the habit of wandering.

Poor Moyhanger has two sisters, one of them a very fine girl; and I much fear that their joy will be so great at his return to them, as to produce a dreadful disfiguration of their countenances.

I have mentioned these instances to shew that affection is a very prominent feature in the character of a New Zealander.

The mode of salutation here is similar to that practised in other parts of the South Sea: that of bringing the noses of the parties in contact. This ceremony took place between Moyhanger's friends and myself at parting.