i36 cook's voyage to dec. 



fatal to those who drink any quantity ; or makes them 

 break out in blotches, if they bathe in it. 



Nothing could make a stronger impression at first 

 sight on our arrival here, than the remarkable con- 

 trast between the robust make and dark colour of the 

 people of Tongataboo, and a sort of delicacy and 

 whiteness which distinguish the inhabitants of Ota- 

 heite. It was even some time before that difference 

 could preponderate in favour of the Otaheitans ; and 

 then only, perhaps, because we became accustomed 

 to them, the marks which had recommended the 

 others began to be forgotten. Their women, how- 

 ever, struck us as superior in every respect ; and 

 as possessing all those delicate characteristics which 

 distinguish them from the other sex in many coun- 

 tries. The beard, which the men here wear long, 

 and the hair, which is not cut so short as in the 

 fashion at Tongataboo, made also a great difference ; 

 and we could not help thinking, that, on every oc- 

 casion, they shewed a greater degree of timidity and 

 fickleness. The muscular appearance, so common 

 amongst the Friendly Islanders, and which seems a 

 consequence of their being accustomed to much 

 action, is lost here, where the superior fertility of 

 their country enables the inhabitants to lead a more 

 indolent life ; and its place is supplied by a plump- 

 ness and smoothness of the skin ; which, though 

 perhaps more consonant with our ideas of beauty, is 

 no real advantage ; as it seems attended with a kind 

 of languor in all their motions, not observable in the 

 others. This observation is fully verified in their 

 boxing and wrestling, which may be called little better 

 than the feeble efforts of children, if compared to 

 the vigour with which these exercises are performed 

 at the Friendly Islands. 



Personal endowments being in great esteem amongst 

 them, they have recourse to several methods of im- 

 proving them, according to their notions of beauty. 

 In particular, it is a practice, especially amongst the 



