A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 13 by Robert Kerr
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page 22 of 673 (03%)
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cocoa-nut leaves, which they make occasionally in a few minutes. This,
however, is not all their head-dress; the women sometimes wear little turbans, and sometimes a dress which they value much more, and which, indeed, is much more becoming, called _Tomou_; the _Tomou_ consists of human hair, plaited in threads, scarcely thicker than sewing silk. Mr Banks got pieces of it above a mile in length, without a knot. These they wind round the head in such a manner as produces a very pretty effect, and in a very great quantity; for I have seen five or six such pieces wound about the head of one woman: Among these threads they stick flowers of various kinds, particularly the cape-jessamine, of which they have great plenty, as it is always planted near their houses. The men sometimes stick the tail-feather of the Tropic-bird upright in their hair, which, as I have observed before, is often tied in a bunch upon the top of their heads: Sometimes they wear a kind of whimsical garland, made of flowers of various kinds, stuck into a piece of the rind of a plantain; or of scarlet peas, stuck with gum upon a piece of wood: And sometimes they wear a kind of wig, made of the hair of men or dogs, or perhaps of cocoa-nut strings, woven upon one thread, which is tied under their hair, so that these artificial honours of their head may hang down behind. Their personal ornaments, besides flowers, are few; both sexes wear ear-rings, but they are placed only on one side: When we came they consisted of small pieces of shell, stone, berries, red peas, or some small pearls, three in a string; but our beads very soon supplanted them all. The children go quite naked; the girls till they are three or four years old, and the boys till they are six or seven. The houses, or rather dwellings of these people, have been occasionally mentioned before: They are all built in the wood, between the sea and |
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