Sometimes This Elegant Pin, As It May Be Called, Is Formed Of The Leg Bone Of Some Small Animal, And Is Pointed At One End For The Purpose Of Penetrating More Easily.

The expression of their countenance, scared and marked as it is, and surmounted by the cap already described, is wild and barbarous.

They smear their faces entirely over with red clay, mixed with palm oil, sometimes a kind of grey dust is used instead of the clay, and this preparation being equally distributed over their whole persons, renders their presence scarcely tolerable. 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. They have a few canoes of small dimensions, capable of containing ten or twelve people, but are not very expert in the management of them, although they are so far advanced as to make use of a mast and sail, which latter is constructed of a sort of mat. They seem to be little addicted to the water, and none were seen amongst them; who could swim. In their fishing excursions, the natives are generally very successful, and those who pursue this mode of obtaining their livelihood, are compelled to adhere to it, and allowed to have nothing to do with cultivating the land. They exchange their fish for yams, and thus the wants of the fishermen and the cultivators are both supplied.

On the first visit of ships to this island, very considerable aversion was shown by the natives to any of their people attempting to go to their huts, or even to their endeavouring to penetrate into the woods, although only a short distance from the shore, from a fear perhaps of their plantations being plundered.

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