284 A NATURALIST ON THE "CHALLENGER." 



the face. The nose is flattened, but not very much ; the eye- 

 brows are straight, the lips not large or protuberant. 



The colour of the Tongans is of a light brownish-yellow with 

 a tino-e of red. Their hair forms the most remarkable feature in 

 their appearance ; it is worn in a sort of mop sticking straight 

 up from the head, and composed of a mass of small curls ; it is 

 black naturally, as are the eyebrows, beard, and moustache, 

 which latter are, however, scanty as a rule ; but it is altered to 

 a rust colour by the application of coral lime. 



The colouring is usually only applied partially so as to give 

 a contrast between the black and red locks. Sometimes the 

 centre of the head is left black, and a marginal zone coloured 

 red ; at others isolated locks all over the head are reddened so 

 as to show a black mop variegated with red. Various other 

 fashions are adopted. The Tongans often sit on their heels like 

 Indian races, but more usually sit cross-legged in the posture in 

 which Buddah is ordinarily represented. 



Having studied Mr. Darwin's work, " On the Expressions of 

 the Emotions," I was immediately struck on seeing the men 

 conversing in the boat with one another, by the unusually 

 marked development of facial expression exhibited by them. 

 The muscles of the forehead during animated conversation, 

 are contracted and relaxed incessantly, and in a most varied 

 manner ; the brow is strongly wrinkled, and the eyebrows are 

 jerked up to such an extent as to remind the observer at once of 

 the jerking up of the eyebrows in monkeys. 



I made as careful a study as time would permit of the 

 various expressions of the emotions ; all of them appear to coin- 

 cide in their intimate character with those of Europeans, and 

 this holds good also in the case of the expressions of children, 

 but the movements made use of are much more strongly 

 marked in the Tongans than in Europeans : thus, for example, 

 in the expression of astonishment I noticed the eyebrows thrown 

 up with a succession of strong jerks, not merely raised once as 

 with Europeans. The use of the forehead muscles is very 

 peculiar, and it indeed seems to be the most characteristic 

 feature noticeable about a Tongan. I saw no similar exaggerated 

 facial expression amongst Hawaians or Tahitians. There was 



