Gratefull possibly for the presents we had made to these girls the people in our return tryd every method to Oblige us; particularly in one house the master orderd one of his people to dance for our amusement which he did thus:

He put upon his head a large cylindrical basket about 4 feet long and 8 inches in diameter, on the front of which was fastned a facing of feathers bending forwards at the top and edged round with sharks teeth and the tail feathers of tropick birds: with this on he dancd moving slowly and often turning his head round, sometimes swiftly throwing the end of his headdress or whow so near the faces of the spectators as to make them start back, which was a joke that seldom faild of making every body laugh especialy if it happned to one of us.

We had also an opportunity of seeing the inside of the Ewharre no eatua so often mentiond. There were 3 of them much ornamented with jaw bones and very full of bundles lapd up with their cloth; these the people opned with some perswasion and in them we found complete skulls with their lower jaw bones in their proper places. Perhaps these were the skulls of those of the victorious party who died in battle and the jaw bones fastnd on the outside were those of the conquerd, but for this conjecture I had no authority from the Indians who seemd to avoid as much as possible any questions upon the subject.

Voyaging Accounts