TE PITO TE HENUA OU EASTER ISLAND. 713 



It will be seeu from the above that, at the present time, among the 

 children there is a preponderance of girls. The population is now 

 reported at a standstill, the deaths and births about equaling- each 

 other in point of numbers. The average number of children to a 

 family is given as three. 



The age of puberty may be placed at 15 years in the male and lo 

 years in the female. 



In color they are of a light brown, approaching here our lighter 

 mulattos, the parts (face, neck, hands, etc.) exposed to the weather 

 being always somewhat darker. 



They have fine, jet-black hair, which may be wavy or straight (never 

 "kinky"), and which is worn in variable styles, according to the taste 

 of the owner, usually short among the men, and in plaits, down the 

 back, among the women. They never decolorize it with lime nor trim 

 it in any fanciful manner, as is the case in the Samoan Group and other 

 South Sea islands. The beards of the men, which are never very heavy, 

 correspond in these respects with the hair. There are several venera- 

 ble looking gray-haired and gray-bearded old men among them. I 

 saw no bald-headed ones, with a single exce])tion. This was in the case 

 of an old man who had been a cannibal, and, curiously enough, for gen- 

 erally throughout the islands they are very reticent on this subject, 

 boasted of the number of human beings off whose flesh he had made a 

 savory meal. When asked how he liked "long pig" he smacked his 

 lips and expressed a regret that he could no longer enjoy the luxury. 

 His expression and appearance were in keeping with his hideous appe- 

 tite, for a more villainous-looking knave does not exist on the island. 



The Eapa I^uiis may be considered a long-lived people. The oldest 

 man and chief on the island, Mati by name, the j)atriarch of the Kapa 

 Nuiis, does not know his actual age, but is certainly over 90 years old, 

 and his wife, Maakua, of whom a photograph was taken, bears him 

 close company in that as well as in other respects. The last king of 

 the Kapa Nuiis, Maurata, also called Kaimokoe, was captured by the 

 Peruvians, carried to the Chincha Islands, and died in 1864. His near- 

 est descendant and successor, a nephew named Kaitae, is 79 years 

 old. The last survivor of Peruvian captivity, Pakomeo, who was also 

 photographed, must nuuiber at least the Biblical threescore and ten. 

 These, with a few others not mentioned, may be considered a remarka- 

 ble showing among so small a number of people, and proves not only 

 that the original stock must have been a good one, but that their climate, 

 surroundings, and mode of life were promotive of longevity. 



In stature they are not a large race. There are a few, mainly among the 

 older men, who are tall, erect, straight, spare in build, G feet or there- 

 abouts in height, but the remainder, including the women, are smaller, 

 and they may be classed as a small-boned, medium-sized people. They 

 are not robust, apparently, neither are they very muscular 5 on the con- 

 trary, most of them present rather a slight, delicate, feeble appearance, 



