Both men and women dress in a kind of Blew and white clouded cotton cloth which they manufacture themselves: of this two peices about 2 yards long each serve for a dress. One of these is worn round the middle: this the men wear pretty tight, it covering no lower than their backsides but above making a kind of loose belt in which they carry their knives &c. and often many other things so that it serves intirely the purpose of Pockets; the other peice is tuckd into this girdle and reaching over the shoulders passes down to the girdle on the other side, so that by opening or folding it they can cover more or less of their bodies as they please. The arms, legs and feet of both sexes are constantly bare, as are the heads of the women which is their cheif distinction by which at once they are known from the men, who always wear something wrap’d round

Voyaging Accounts