The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First VoyageCook, James
History
The Three Voyages of Captain Cook Round the World. Vol. II. Being the Second of the First Voyage
Cook, James
Cook, James, 1728-1779 -- Travel; Explorers -- Great Britain -- Biography; Voyages around the world -- History -- 18th century
have such a luxuriance of fancy, that of an hundred, which at first
sight appeared to be exactly the same, no two were, upon a close
examination, found to be alike. We observed, that the quantity and form
of these marks were different in different parts of the coast, and that
as the principal seat of them at Otaheite was the breech, in New Zealand
it was sometimes the only part which was free, and in general was less
distinguished than any other.
The skins of these people, however, are not only dyed, but painted; for,
as I have before observed, they smear their bodies with red oker, some
rubbing it on dry, and some applying it in large patches mixed with oil,
which is always wet, and which the least touch will rub off, so that the
transgressions of such of our people as were guilty of ravishing a kiss
from these blooming beauties, were most legibly written upon their
faces.
The dress of a New Zealander is certainly, to a stranger at first sight,
the most uncouth that can be imagined. It is made of the leaves of the
flag, which has been described among the vegetable productions of this
country: these leaves are split into three or four slips, and the slips,
when they are dry, interwoven with each other into a kind of stuff
between netting and cloth, with all the ends, which are eight or nine
inches long, hanging out on the upper side, like the shag or thrump
mats, which we sometimes see lying in a passage. Of this cloth, if cloth
it may be called, two pieces serve for a complete dress; one of them is
tied over their shoulders with a string, and reaches as low as the
knees; to the end of this string is fastened a bodkin of bone, which is
easily passed through any two parts of this upper garment, so as tack
them together; the other piece is wrapped round the waist, and reaches
nearly to the ground: the lower garment, however, is worn by the men
only upon particular occasions; but they wear a belt, to which a string
is fastened, for a very singular use. The inhabitants of the South Sea
islands slit up the prepuce so as to prevent it from covering the glans
of the penis; but these people, on the contrary, bring the prepuce over
the glans, and to prevent it from being drawn back by the contraction of
the part, they tie the string which hangs from their girdle round the
end of it. The glans, indeed, seemed to be the only part of their body
which they were solicitous to conceal, for they frequently threw off all
their dress but the belt and string, with the most careless
indifference, but showed manifest signs of confusion, when, to gratify
our curiosity, they were requested to untie the string, and never
consented but with the utmost reluctance and shame. When they have only
their upper garment on, and sit upon their hams, they bear some
resemblance to a thatched house; but this covering, though it is ugly,
is well adapted to the use of those who frequently sleep in the open
air, without any other shelter from the rain.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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