ut twenty houses, the most
of which need no other description than comparing them to the roof of a
thatched house in England, taken off the walls and placed on the ground.
Some were open at both ends, others partly closed with reeds, and all were
covered with palm thatch. A few of them were thirty or forty feet long, and
fourteen or sixteen broad. Besides these, they have other mean hovels,
which, I conceived, were only to sleep in. Some of these stood in a
plantation, and I was given to understand, that in one of them lay a dead
corpse. They made signs that described sleep, or death; and circumstances
pointed out the latter. Curious to see all I could, I prevailed on an
elderly man to go with me to the hut, which was separated from the others
by a reed fence, built quite round it at the distance of four or five feet.
The entrance was by a space in the fence, made so low as to admit one to
step over. The two sides and one end of the hut were closed or built up in
the same manner, and with the same materials, as the roof. The other end
had been open, but was now well closed with mats, which I could not prevail
on the man to remove, or suffer me to do it. There hung at this end of the
hut a matted bag or basket, in which was a piece of roasted yam, and some
sort of leaves, all quite fresh. I had a strong desire to see the inside of
the hut but the man was peremptory in refusing this, and even shewed an
unwillingness to permit me to look into the basket. He wore round his neck,
fastened to a string, two or three locks of human hair; and a woman present
had several about her neck. I offered something in exchange for them, but
they gave me to understand they could not part with them, as it was the
hair of the person who lay in the hut. Thus I was led to believe that these
people dispose of their dead in a manner similar to that of Otaheite. The
same custom of wearing the hair is observed by the people of that island,
and also by the New Zealanders. The former make tamau of the hair of their
deceased friends, and the latter make ear-rings and necklaces of their
teeth.

Near most of their large houses were fixed, upright in the ground, the
stems of four cocoa-nut trees, in a square position, about three feet from
each other. Some of our gentlemen who first saw them, were inclined to
believe they were thus placed on a religious account; but I was now
satisfied that it was for no other purpose but to hang cocoa-nuts on to
dry. Fo