Like other savage people, they reckon time by moons; I could not learn that they ever reckoned by any other period, except, indeed, when speaking of two or three days.
They take pride in their hair, and are particularly careful about it, washing and cleansing it almost every day. They do not color it, however, as the natives of some islands are said to do; but they moisten it with the juice pressed out from the cocoa-nut, which gives it a very glossy appearance; and it is frequently so long as to reach down to their waist.
Their mode of salutation is, to clasp each other in their arms, and touch their noses together, as is practised in many other islands.
We found no musical instruments of any kind among them. They sometimes, on particular occasions, would sing or bawl out something like a rude tune; but we could not understand it. We frequently tried to teach them to whistle, and their awkward attempts to do it amused us; but they never were able to learn how it was done.
In their names, I could not find that they had any thing like a family name, but only a single one, (corresponding to our christian names,) as is the case, I believe, throughout the islands of the Pacific. I could not learn, that the names were significant either of animals or other objects, as the Indian names of America are, and I never found any two persons of the same name. The names of the members of the family with which I lived were as follows:—
Pahrahboo´ah, the father of the family.
Nah'kit, the mother.
Buhwur´timar, the eldest child, a son, ten or twelve years old.
Kobaw´ut, the second, a daughter.
Kobahnoo´uk, the third, a daughter.