Joseph Banks - Endeavour Journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0390
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[Page 390]
Oheteroa
their boarding us by swimming to which we were always liable
The Island to all apearance that we saw was more barren than any thing we have seen in these seas the cheif produce seeming to be Etóa (the wood of which make their weapons) indeed every where along shore where we saw plantations they were coverd by trees of this kind planted between them & the sea it is without a reef & the ground in the bay we were in so foul & corally that tho a ship might come almost close to the shore she could not possibly anchor The water was clearer than I ever saw it I saw distinctly the ground at 25 fathoms depth.
The people seemd strong lusty & well made but were rather browner than those we have left behind they were not tattowd on their backsides but instead of that had black marks about as broad as my hand under their armpits the sides of which were deeply indented [See image for illustration] they had also circles of smaller ones round their arms & legs their dress was indeed most singular as well as the cloth with which they were dressd which I shall first describe. it was made of the same materials as the inhabitants of the other Islands make use of & generaly died of a very bright & deep yellow upon this was on some sorts spread a composition which coverd it like oil colour or varnish it was either red or of a dark lead colour upon this again was painted stripes in many different patterns with infinite regularity much in the same way as some