of large dimensions, which we caught with lines, consisting of several
sorts of perca, as the numerous family of the order of branchiostigi,
which sported about the coral.
The largest portion of the natives of Gambier Islands belong to a
class which Mr. G. Forster would place among the first variety of the
human species in the South Seas. Like the generality of uncivilized
people, they are good-natured when pleased, and harmless wlien not
irritated; obsequious when inferior in force, and overbearing when
otherwise; and are carried away by an insatiable desire of appropriating
to themselves every thing which attracts their fancy—an indulgence
which brings them into many quarrels, and often costs them
their lives. I f respect for the deceased be considered a mark of civilization
and humanity, they cannot be called a barbarous people ; but they
possess no other claims to a worthier designation. In features, language,
and customs, they resemble the Society, Friendly, Marquesa, and
Sandwich Islanders; but they differ from those tribes in one very important
point— an exemption from those sensual habits and indecent
exhibitions which there pervade all ranks. It may be said of the Gambier
Islanders what few can assert of any people inhabiting the same
part of the globe—that during the whole of our intercourse with them
we did not witness an indecent act or gesture. There is a great mixture
of feature and of colour among them; and we should probably have
found a difference of dialect also, could we have made ourselves masters
of their language. It seems as if several tribes from remote parts of the
Pacific had here met and mingled their peculiarities. In complexion
and feature we could trace resemblance even to the widely separated
tribes of New Zealand, New Caledonia, and Malacca. Their mode of
salutation is the same as that which existed at the Friendly, Society,
and Sandwich Islands : they resemble the inhabitants of the latter almost
exclusively in tattooing the face, and the inhabitants of the former in
staining their skin from the hips to the knees. Their huts, coral tables,
and pavements, are nearly the same as at the Friendly Islands and
Marquesas; but they are more nearly allied to the latter by a custom
which otherwise, I believe, is at present confined to them, and without a
due observance of which, Krusenstern says, it is in vain to seek a matrimonial
alliance at St. Christina*. In the preservation of tlieir dead, CHAI’.
wrapping them in an abundance of cloth and mats, they copy theOtahei-
tans andHapaeans; though in the ultimate disposal of them in caves,
and keeping them above ground, they differ from all the other islanders.
Their language and religion are closely allied to several, yet they differ
essentially from all the above-mentioned tribes in having no huge carved
images surmounting their morals, and no fiatookas or wattas. Unlike
them also, they are deficient in canoes, though they might easily construct
them ; they have neither clubs, slings, nor bows and arrows ; and
are wanting in those marks of self-mutilation which some tribes deem
indispensable on the death of their chiefs or esteemed friends, or in
cases when they wish to appease their offended deity.
They are for the most part fairer and handsomer than the Sandwich
Islanders, but less effeminate than the Otaheitans. The average
height of the men is above that of Englishmen, but they are not so
robust. One man who came on board measured six feet and half an
inch, and one on shore six feet, tw'o and a half inches. The former
measured round the thorax, under the arms, three feet two inches and
a half; and a person of less stature three feet one inch. The thickest
part of the middle of this person’s arm, when at rest, was eleven inches
and three-eighths. These dimensions of girth will, I believe, be found
less in proportion than those of the labouring class of our own countryr
men, though the general appearance of these islanders at first leads to
a different conclusion. They are upright in figure, and round, but not
robust. In their muscles there is a flabbiness, and in the old men a
la.xity of integument, which allows their skin to hang in folds about the
belly and thighs to a greater degree than those I afterwards noticed at
Otaheite or Woaboo. Two causes may be assigned for this; the nature
of their food, and their indolent habits.
In general the Gambier Islanders have a fine Asiatic countenance,
with mustachios and beards, but no whiskers; and when their heads are
covered with a roll of white cloth, a very common custom, they might
pass for Moors. It is somewhat remarkable that we perceived none of
* See K n iseiisten i’s Einb.issy to Japan.