PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 189 



it is bushy and impervious : the mustachios grow 

 long, but the beards, which are kept from three to 

 four inches in length, are sometimes brought to a 

 point, at others divided into two ; one man, how- 

 ever, was observed with a beard which hung down 

 to the pit of the stomach : the hands are large, but the 

 feet small and elegant, and the toes close together, 

 from which it is probable that they pass a great 

 portion of their time upon their rafts, or idly basking 

 in the sun, — perhaps in lying upon their stone pave- 

 ments like the Hapaeans. The women are below 

 the common standard height, and in personal shape 

 and beauty far inferior to the males. The wife of 

 the chief, who has been already described, was the 

 finest woman I saw among them. Her dress may 

 be considered a fair specimen of the general cover- 

 ing of the women, who have no ornaments of any 

 kind, and appeared quite indifferent to the beads 

 and trinkets which were offered them. 



Tattooing is here so universally practised that it 

 is rare to meet a man without it ; and it is carried to 

 such an extent that the figure is sometimes covered 

 with small checkered lines from the neck to the an- 

 kles, though the breast is generally exempt, or only 

 ornamented with a single device. In some, generally 

 elderly men, the face is covered below the eyes, in 

 which case the lines or net-work are more open than 

 on other parts of the body, probably on account of 

 the pain of the operation, and terminate at the 

 upper part in a straight line, from ear to ear, pass- 

 ing over the bridge of the nose. With these excep- 

 tions to which we may add the fashion, with some 

 few, of blue lines, resembling stockings, from the 

 middle of the thigh to the ankle, the effect is be- 



