Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0401
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[Page 401]
Manners & Customs of the S. Sea Islands
limbs than the womens dress will allow. Thus much of the richer people, the poorer sort have only a small allowance of cloth given them from the tribes or families to which they belong, & must use that to the best advantage.
it is reckond no shame for any part of the body to be exposd to view except those which all mankind hide, it was no uncommon thing for the richest of the men to come to see us with a large quantity of cloth rolld round their loins, & all the rest of their bodies naked, tho the cloth wrappd round them was sufficient to have clothd a dozn people. The women at sun set always bard their bodys down to the navel, which seemd to be a kind of easy undress to them as to our ladies to pull off any finery that has been usd during the course of the day, & change it for a loose gown & capachin.
Both sexes shade their faces from the sun with little bonnets of cocoa nut leaves which they make occasionaly in a very few minutes, some have these made of fine matting but that is less common. Of matting they have several sorts, some very fine, which is usd in exactly the same manner as Cloth, for their dresses, cheifly in rainy weather, as their cloth will not bear the least wett.
Ornaments they have very few, they are very fond of earings but wear them only in one ear.