PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 51 



are few in number, they cannot have much to spare 

 to supply the wants of strangers." 



The population of Easter Island has been variously 

 stated : Roggewein declares several thousands sur- 

 rounded the boats : Cook reckoned it at six or seven 

 hundred ; Mr. Forster, who was with him, at nine 

 hundred ; M. la Perouse, at two thousand: my offi- 

 cers estimated it at about fifteen hundred. If a 

 mean of these be taken, it will leave 1260, which is, 

 perhaps, near the truth ; for it may be presumed, 

 that in an island of such limited extent, and which 

 does not increase its productions or personal comforts, 

 and where sexual intercourse is unrestrained, the 

 population will remain much the same. 



One of the authors of Roggewein's Voyage repre- 

 sents the inhabitants of this island as giants, which, 

 if his assertion be true, makes it evident that, like 

 the Patagonians, they have degenerated very rapid- 

 ly. Cook remarks that he did not see a man that 

 would measure 6 feet; and our estimate of the ave- 

 rage height of the people was 5 feet 7^ inches. They 

 are a handsome race, the women in particular. The 

 fine oval countenances and regular features of the 

 men, the smooth, high-rounded foreheads, the ra- 

 ther small and somewhat sunken dark eye, and the 

 even rows of ivory-white teeth, impressed us with 

 the similarity of their features to the heads brought 

 from New Zealand. The colour of their skin is lighter 

 than that of the Malays. The general contour of the 

 body is good : the limbs are not remarkable for 

 muscularity, but formed more for activity than 

 strength. The hair is jet black, and worn mode- 

 rately short. One man of about fifty years of age, 

 the only exception that was noticed, had his hair 



e 2 



