6.
On the Wednesday afternoon, the chiefs and a number of other natives
were brought on board the H.M.S. _Nelson_, and a grand assembly took
place, with a feast for the chiefs and an address from the Commodore, a
presentation of gifts attractive to the native eye, and the firing of
some of the ships' guns. The flags of various nations were hung over the
quarter-deck in the form of an awning, and the officers wore frock-coats
and swords. Most of the chiefs were destitute of clothing, the mop-like
hair and foreheads of some of them being bound round with bands of
small shells and the hair ornamented with tufts of feathers. Two or
three wore old shirts, and one, Boe Vagi, the chief of the Port Moresby
natives, who was appointed by the Commodore to be the head chief of the
Motu tribe, was dressed in a shirt, with a handkerchief round his loins,
a red felt hat on his head, and some green leaves through the lobe of
his left ear. Evidently he had been attired specially for the occasion,
as his usual dress is as scanty as that of his fellows.
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