It Is Difficult To Find Out The Colour Of Their Skin Under The Filthy Covering Of Oil And Clay By Which It Is Concealed, But It Is Believed Not To Be So Dark As The African Negro, And More Resembling A Copper Colour.

The natives make use of no other dress than the cap, which they wear on their heads, but a

Few leaves, or a bunch of dried grass, are usually secured round the middle by the people of both sexes, while the younger, naturally unconscious of indecency, go entirely naked. The vertebrae of snakes, the bones of fowls and birds, as well as sheep, broken shells, small beads, and pieces of cocoa nut shell are put in requisition by the natives, for the ornament of their persons. A profusion of these strung together hang round the waist, which it seems to be the principal care to decorate in this manner, while their necks are scarcely less favoured with a proportion of these articles. Strings of them are also fastened round the arms and legs, but not in such quantities as round the waist. The pieces of hoop they have obtained from the ships which have visited the island, are formed into rude knives, or polished, and worn on the arm, in a kind of band made of straw, and are much valued. In their first intercourse with Europeans, the natives were very shy, and displayed much fear, but this gradually wore off, and they now venture boldly on board for the purpose of obtaining knives, hatchets, or any thing they can get.

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