Series 03: Joseph Banks - Endeavour journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 (vol. 2) - No. 0185
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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