Both sexes bore their ears, and by stretching them the holes become large enough to admit a finger at least. In these holes they wear ornaments of various kinds, cloth, feathers, bones of large birds, and even sometimes a stick of wood; and to these receptacles of finery they generally applied the nails which we gave them, and every thing which it was possible they could contain. The women sometimes thrust through them the down of the albatross, which is as white as snow, and which, spreading before and behind the hole in a bunch almost as big as the fist, makes a very singular, and however strange it may be thought, not a disagreeable appearance. Besides the ornaments that are thrust through the holes of the ears, many others are suspended to them by strings; such as chissels or bodkins made of green talc, upon which they set a high value, the nails and teeth of their deceased relations, the teeth of dogs, and every thing else that they can get, which they think either curious or valuable. The women also wear bracelets and anclets, made of the bones of birds, shells, or any other substances which they can perforate and string upon a thread. The men had sometimes hanging to a string, which went round the neck, a piece of green talc, or whalebone, somewhat in the shape of a tongue, with the rude figure of a man carved upon it; and upon this ornament they set a high value. In one instance, we saw the gristle that divides the nostrils, and called by anatomists, the septum nasi, perforated, and a feather thrust through the whole, which projected on each side over the checks: it is probable that this frightful singularity was intended as an ornament, but of the many people we saw, we never observed it in any other, nor even a perforation that might occasionally serve for such a purpose.

Voyaging Accounts