Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0186
Primary tabs
Transcription
[Page 186]
182.
Some account of New Zealand
Guttar which serves to conduct the rain down & hinder it from soaking through the cloath beneath besides this they have several kinds of Cloth which is smooth & ingeniously enough workd they are cheifly of two sorts one Coarse as our coarsest canvass & ten times stronger but much like it in the lying of the threads the other is formd by many threads running lenghwise & a few only crossing them which tie them together this last sort is sometimes stripd & always very pretty, for the threads that compose it are prepard so as to shine almost as much as silk to both these they work borders of different colours in fine stiches something like Carpeting or girls Samplers in various patterns with an ingenuity truly surprizing to any one who will reflect that they are without needles they have also Mats with which they sometimes cover themselves but the great pride of their dress seems to consist in dogs fur, which they use so sparingly that to avoid waste they cut in into long strips & sew them at a distance from each other upon their Cloth varying often the coulours prettily enough when first we saw these dresses we took them for the skins of Bears or some animal of that
kind, but we were soon undeceivd and found upon enquiry that they were acquainted with no animal that had fur or long hair but their own dogs. Some there were who had these dresses ornamented with feathers and one who had an intire dress of the red feathers of Parrots, but these were not common.
The men always wore short beards and tied their hair in a small knot on the top of their heads, sticking into it a kind of comb and at the top two or 3 white feathers. About their Waists was tied a belt from which hung a string which was tied round the preputium and in this seemd to consist most or all of their decency in that particular; for when that was tied they often exposd by different motions every part of their bodies to our view and indeed not seldom threw off all other dress, but shewd visible reluctance and signs of shame when we desird them to untie it from a curiosity to see the manner in which it was tied. The first man we saw when we went ashore at Poverty bay who was killd by one of our people had his dress tied on exactly in the same manner as is represented in Mr Dalrymples account of Tasmans Voyage, in a plat which I beleive is copied