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[Page 185]

181.
Some account of New Zealand

which our Companions could not fail to see on our first interview

The Common dress of these people is certainly to a stranger at first one of the most uncouth & extrordinary sights that can be imagind  it is made of the leaves of the Flag describd before which are split into 3 or 4 Slips each & these as soon as they are dry are wove into a kind of Stuff between netting and cloth  out of the upper side of which all the ends, of 8 or 9 inches long each are sufferd to hang in the same manner as thrums out of a thrum mat  of these peices of Cloth 2 serve for a compleat dress one of which is tied over the shoulders & reaches about their knees  the other about the waist which reaches near the ground  but they seldom wear more than one of these & when they have it on resemble not a little a thachd house  these dresses however  ugly as they are  are well adapted for their convenience who are often obligd to sleep in the open air & live some time without the least shelter even from rain  so that they must trust intirely to their Cloaths for every as the only chance they have of keeping themselves dry  for which they are certainly not ill adapted as every strip of leaf becomes in that case a kind of

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