Why this animal is thus particularly distinguished, I leave to the
conjectures of the curious. There is also an ornament, made of shells,
fastened in rows on a ground of strong netting, so as to strike each other
when in motion; which both men and women, when they dance, tie either round
the arm or the ankle, or below the knee. Instead of shells, they sometimes
make use of dog's teeth, and a hard red berry, resembling that of the
holly.

There remains to be mentioned another ornament (if such it may be called),
which is a kind of mask, made of a large gourd, with holes cut in it for
the eyes and nose. The top was stuck full of small green twigs, which, at a
distance, had the appearance of an elegant waving plume; and from the lower
part hung narrow stripes of cloth, resembling a beard. We never saw these
masks worn but twice, and both times by a number of people together in a
canoe, who came to the side of the ship, laughing and drolling, with an air
of masquerading. Whether they may not likewise be used as a defence for the
head against stones, for which, they seem best designed; or in some of
their public games; or be merely intended for the purposes of mummery, we
could never inform ourselves.

It has already been remarked, in a few instances, that the natives of the
Sandwich Islands approach nearer to the New Zealanders in their manners and
customs, than to either of their less distant neighbours of the Society or
Friendly Islands. This is in nothing more observable than in their method
of living together in small towns or villages, containing from about one
hundred to two hundred houses, built pretty close together, without any
order, and having a winding path leading through them. They are generally
flanked, toward the sea, with loose detached walls, which, probably, are
meant both for the purposes of shelter and defence. The figure of their
houses has been already described. They are of different sizes, from