Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/69

50 give you the idea of a village, composed of a number of small huts, one of which is formed by each individual: their heads, at a distance, may easily be mistaken for chimneys.

Their mats being fastened at the neck only, they are soon thrown off; and as they are not worn when any active exertion is required, the facility with which they disengage themselves from them is found a great convenience.

The dress of the natives consists in a mat finely wove of the native flax, and its glossy appearance, with a fringe all round, renders it by no means an inelegant sort of mantle. These mats are made of greater dimensions than those used as ordinary covering: they are fastened at the neck only, but are usually wrapped round the figure, and retained in that situation by the hands of the wearer.

In cold weather this article of dress is sometimes applied on the outside of the common covering mat, and as this is, from long wearing, or some other cause,