March. 

 , J 



l26 A VOYAGE TO 



1779. where mentioned j which is* that, even in the handfomeft 

 faces, there is always a fulnefs of the noftril, without any 

 flatnefs or fpreading of the nofe, that diftinguifhjs them 

 from Europeans. It is not improbable that this may be the 

 effect of their ufual mode of falutation, which is performed 

 by prefling the ends of their nofes together. 



The fame fuperiority that is obfervable in the perfons of 

 the Erees y through all the other iilands, is found alfo here. 

 Thofe whom we favv -were, without exception, perfectly 

 well formed ; whereas the lower fort, befides their general 

 inferiority, are fubject to all the variety of make and figure 

 that is feen in the populace of other countries, lnflances 

 of deformity are more frequent here, than in any of the 

 other iilands. Whilft we were cruifing off Owhyhee, two 

 dwarfs came on board, one an old man, four feet two 

 inches high, but exactly proportioned, and the other a wo- 

 man, nearly of the fame height. We afterward faw three 

 natives, who were hump-backed, and a young man, born 

 without hands or feet. Squinting is alfo very common 

 amongft them ; and a man, who, they faid, had been born 

 blind, was brought to us to be cured. Befides thefe parti- 

 cular imperfections, they are, in general, very fubject to 

 boils and ulcers, which we attributed to the great quantity 

 of fait they eat with their flefh and fifh. The Erees are very 

 free from thefe complaints; but many of them fuffer ftill 

 more dreadful effects from the immoderate ufe of the ava. 

 Th.;fe who were the mod affeaed by it, had their bodies co- 

 vered with a white fcuxf, their eyes red and inflamed, their 

 limbs emaciate-, the whole frame trembling and paralytic, 

 accompanied with a difability to raife the head. Though 

 this drug docs not appeal univerfally to fhorten life, as was 



evident 



