cos P O L Y N E S I A,
First D i s -
COTER Y.,
V . . T h e M a r q u e s a s . '■„
TThêfè iflands were difeovered by Mendana, who impofed the uame in
»honour of Don Garcia de Mendoza, marquis of Caniente, viceroy of
Peru," whence .they are alfo fomctimes'i’ftyled the Ifle's of Mendoza.
From the account óf Mcndana’s difeovery it appears that the people of
the Marquefas were an elegant race, the woinen being remarkably beautiful,
with tolerably fair complexions, fo' as to' exceed in perfonal appearance
' the fiireft women ?o£ Lima/ They were, cloathed, from the
breaft downwards, with a fine piece of bark cloth. ~ They had idols of
wood : and their canoes fometimes held from thirty to forty mariners.
The temperature of the air was fo dry as not in the leaf! to moiften
linen left on the ground during, the night. The blanc-mange o f Mendana
is probably the bread fruit. The names given to the feveral
iflands, by the firft difeoverer, have fince yielded to the native appellat
i o n One of the beft known to Eurqpeaps is the ifle,q|;-Ohitta:hoo,
to thèS. of the larger ifle Ohevahoa.
Subfequeot
Difcovtries.
In 1774 the Marquefas were vifited. by Captain Cook,, and in $789
by the French circumnavigator Marchand, whoferidfe voyage has-been
recently publifhed « Paris- with fo much ' pomp 7ahd > fcompiMtion.
Marchand however obferved fome ifles tothe N. W. of this group,
afterwards deferred in 1791 "by-an American Captain called Ingraham,
which are inhabited, but are -not laid down in Arrowfmith’s chart of
the- Pacific, "nor probably in any other, which has yet appeared. I f the
longitudes and latitudes publifhed by Ingraham be tolerably exari,
thefe iflands may be regarded as belonging to thé group of Marquefas.*
- The beft recent account of the latter is that given in the Miffionary
Voyage, Captain "Wilfon having vifited. the Marquefas in
ig i
4 Ï3ÿ Broffes. i, i$l*- ,
• Mr. Arrowfmith fuppofes them the Marquefas. The, sentirai fouth latitude “of, 90 agi
_ Jong. 141° from London would place them to the w.elt of the Marquefas, whence the' diflaricc is
faid to be thirty-five leagues, and thelargeft file about ten leagues in’ circuit. Other difeoveries
may probably take place near the equator, from long. 1600 to 1750.
P O-L'-Y Ni'E&'ï A. 5°3
The natives are faicf to furpafs all other nations in fymrri-etry of fhape, Mar^ esa*.
and regularity of features * and -vvere it not for the p ta S le of, tatooing,
whlcla; blackens the., body- by numerous punctures,' the complexion,
woulcf be only tawny, while the hair is of many colours, but none red.
Some.’ of the women are nearly as fair as Europeans,. and among them
tatooing' is not fo univerfal.? ehfeffain. had ?$4 e
< parallel lines riff her aft^y.Vhile»otfe6fs frad-'«mly-ffight pufeahf extern the-
infide of their lips, and even upon, their eyelids. A long narrow piece
' o f cloth was wrapt round the waift, the ends being tucked "up 'ietWedn-
thei thighs,' white a* bread fc|oth >was -th^ ni-ov e r :t®e
fliouldcr, reaching half way down the leg... But this drefs feems-
cerMidnidus,; 'as may'apgeafefrhm W 1fcscidehtW-fthb'Tame Wmufmg.
jmirnal.
a <9arlcfffjft; vifitors from the' fBsre' came* early 5•
beautiful yoUftg women, fwimmipg quite naked, Ԥ&cfe:,;rietfew"grehn
leaves rtied'-rourid their middle: they “kept playirig, round rifee-fh-ip for
three" hoars, callirtg Waheine 1- (that is women,) until feveral of the
native hrien had gbt" etu"board; o'ne of whom,'being‘the thief of the
iflanti, requefted tM t his fiflter might''be taken-on board/-which was
eoMpled with : 5fihewas ©f a ‘ flair complexion, inclining to a 1 healthy
yiglfevs,. with a.tint ©f red*in-her ebeek j. was rather flout, but pofleflfeig
fneh fymmetry of features, as did all her companions, that, as models
for the ftatuary and paintei, then equals can feldom be found. Our -
Otaheitan7 girl, -who was tolerably fair and had a. comely perfon, was
notwithftanding greatly’eelipfed by thefe women,' and I believe fe lf her .
inferiority in no fmalPcfegree’; ’however jfhe wasfuperior'infehri anaiable-
befs of her manners, | arid poffeffed more o f the foftnefs and t ender feeling
of.the f e x f h e was-afhamed to fee a woman upon the deck^quitenaked,
and fupplied her with a complete- drefs of new Otaheitan cloth, which '
fet her off to great advantage^ and encouraged thofe in the water, whofe •
numbers were now greatly iricreafed, to-importune for admiffio.n ; and
out:of pity to them, as-we- faw they would .not. return, we took them -,
on board j but they were in.a -meafure difappointed, for they-could n o t.
5 - Miffionary voyage, London, 1799.
aîlï