the point of the hose, which is Tery common. But on the other hand we met
with hundreds of truly European faces, and many genuine Roman noses, amongst
them. Their dyes and tfeth are good ; but the last neither so remarkably white;
nor so well set, as is often found amongst Indian nations.”* The general -complexion
is “ a cast deeper than the copper-brown,” although many have a True
olive tintj'Snd others, especially among the women, are comparatively fair.
The inhabitants of Tongataboo and the adjacent islands, are warlike, vindictive
and superstitious, and even indulge in occasional cannibalism, which they are
said to haveslearned from the Fegee islanders. They maintain the institution of
castes to a degree not surpassed by the Hindoos; for they extend it even to their
gods, whom they divide into six different classes.f
The people of the Society I slands, together with those of the groups called
the Georgian, Austral, and Harvey's Islands, are generally less muscular than the
Sandwich islanders,- whom, in other respects, they closely resemble. They are
well formed, and often beautifully proportioned, and possess an uncommon share
both of activity and gracefulness. Their countenance is open, and the facial
angle is often as good as in the European. The eyes are black, bright and full;
the lips rather tumid, the teeth remarkably good, and the nose rectilinear or
aquiline. The whole face is round or oval, “ w ith o u t a n y resemblance to the
angular fa rm o f the T a rta r visage.”t Their hair is long and black, generally
straight, hut often curly, and sometimes frizzled, jiff The prevailing color of the
natives is an olive, a bronze or a reddish-hroWif—equally removed from the jet
black of the African and the Asiatic, the yellow of the Malay, and the red or
copper color of the aboriginal American.” Yet the color of the people of some of
these islands, and especially in the Harvey and Austral islands, is as fair as that of
the inhabitants of some parts of southern Europe.
Forster has given a graphic description of the people of Tahiti. Their
complexion is white tinctured with brownish yellow, from which there is every
tint to a swarthy hue. The shape of the face is more round than oval, and the
features very symmetrical and often. beautiful. ^ Their hands and fingers are
delicately formed, hut their feet are disproportionately large. Like the otheij|
* Cook’s Last Voyage, I, d. 380.
■ t Mj r h s u , Tonga Islands, p. 3301—It. is worthy of remark that among the Tonga people,
children acquire their rank by inheritance from the mother's side. Marhimeh, p. 325. Such also
was the custom of the Natchez of Florida,
t Ellis, Polynes. Res. II, p. 17.
islanders of this race, they are fickle, indolent and sensual, yet when engaged in
war they fight with great intrepidity.*
The Marquesas I slands present a population very similar to that of the
Society Isles; in youth sprightly and beautiful, somewhat darker than the Tahitians,
and less inclined to flesh.
In E aster I sland (which is fifteen hundred miles from the nearest inhabited
islands) the natives possess a tawny skin, a slender frame, and well proportioned
limbs, but with features less prepossessing. than those of the islanders already
noticed, Some remains of cyclopean architecture and sculpture, Indicate the
present population to he, in comparison, an ignorant and degenerate race.
Of all the Polynesians the New Z ealanders are the most sanguinary and
intractable. Their combined treachery, cruelty and cannibalism, have made them
proverbial ever since the discovery of their island by Tasman. Captain Crozet,
whose crew they attempted to destroy, illustrates their character in very few
words: “ They treated us,” says he, “ with every show of friendship for thirty-
three days, with the intention of eating us on the thirty-fourth.” These islanders
are tall, athletic, and admirably well shaped. Their complexion is varied between
white, brown and black; hut in the majority of the common people it is of a deep
bronze color. The better classes have the olive and yellowish brown tint of the
Malays, with hair long and black, and generally more or less frizzled. The New
Zealanders practise the operation of tattooing with an elaborateness and perfection
elsewhere unknown. It is a principal means , of distinction between the chiefs
and common people, and may, according to its pattern, “he regarded as the crest
or coat of arms of the New Zealand aristocracy.”!
The Fegee-islanders vie with the New Zealanders in treachery and .cannibalism.
Captain Dillon gives a melancholy narrative of the murder of fourteen of
his men, most of whom were subsequently baked in ovens and devoured in his
presence.!
The Tikopians are robust in form, and inoffensive and hospitable in their
manners. They live almost exclusively on vegetable food, which has been suggested
as the cause of their singular docility.$ They are of a bright copper color,
and use the betel nut like the Malays.
All the Polynesian islanders are characterised by a volatile disposition and
fugitive habits. They act from the impulse of the moment, without reflection
* Forster, Voy. Round the World, p. 229. t E llis, Polynes. Res. I, p. 31.
% Voyage to Discover the Fate of La Perouse, I, p. 19, &c. § Ibid. II, p. 135.
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