In one of the huts, which was of a more elliptical shape and of larger dimensions than the other, was a bunch of hair that had been recently clipped from either the head or beard.

This proves that these operations are not done solely by fire, as Captain Cook supposed,* but by means of a sharp-edged shell, which must be both tedious and painful to endure; and we have often witnessed the delight shown by the natives at the speedy effect a pair of scissors has produced upon the beard or hair.

The canoes were not longer than eight feet and would not safely carry more than two people; the ends were stitched together by strips of the stem of the Flagellaria indica.
(*Footnote.

Hawkesworth volume 3 page 229.) Few palm-trees were seen, but at the large islands, according to Captain Cook's account,* they are probably abundant.

A considerable quantity of pumice-stone was found, as is usual in every place that we have landed at within the tropic, heaped up above the highwater mark.