TE PITO TE HENUA OR EASTER ISLAND. 717 



latter endeavor to "bull" the market, while those of the boy do their 

 utmost to "bear" the commodity under appraisement, the price is finallj'^ 

 agreed upon and the bargain is concluded, the consideration being a 

 specified quantity of sugar cane, taro, sweet potatoes, chickens, etc., to 

 be paid the girl's iiarents. A day is then tixed upon; relatives and 

 friends are notified; due j)reparations are made at the girl's house, to 

 Avhich the articles mentioned have meanwhile been sent, and at the 

 time ai)poiuted, all interested being present, a grand feast is held, at 

 which, as a rule, everything edible, that is to say the price of the girl, 

 is consumed. That important business being finished, bride and groom 

 retire to the residence of the parents of the latter, by whom the bride 

 is adopted as their own child, and thenceforth the parties are husband 

 and wife. 



The cares and the obligations of matrimony, as well as of parentage, 

 sit lightly upon the Rapa Nuiis. Although marital infidelity may be 

 rare, it is stated that a husband will, in consideration of a certain 

 quantity of produce, make over all right in his wife to another for a 

 specified period, at the exijiration of which time he will take back the 

 wife and she again becomes the partner of his joys and sorrows. This 

 might be called polygamy in another form. 



Fixing the average at three gives, I think, a very fair estimate of 

 the number of children to Sf family, and the lack of fecundity among 

 them will readily be exi)lained by the early child marriages, customs, 

 habits of life, intermarriage, and the degeneracy of the race. 



In these people the lower part of the body and extremities were 

 found well developed, and in the women more so than would be sup- 

 posed from their slight physique. In the latter the skin was lighter 

 in color in the unexposed than in the exposed parts. The hips are 

 broad and full, the thighs large, round, and firm, and legs straight and 

 tapering to the ankles, which, with the feet, were small and delicate. 

 They are but sparingly hirsute. The breasts of those examined were 

 moderately large, full, round, firm, and carried well up on the chest. 

 The nipples were quite small, but with good-sized areola, which latter 

 presented, in some instances, that peculiar puffy, translucent appear- 

 ance, as though filled with serum, often seen throughout the other Pacific 

 Islands. The Kapa Xuiis differed from these in that the areola was not 

 so large nor of so deep a tint, the writer having seen them in other 

 islands covering half the breast and nearly black in color. 



The skin of the woman examined, where not covered with tattooing, 

 was nearly as light in color as that of the average brunette, and very 

 fine, smooth, soft, and delicate. 



There seems to be no doubt that, with all their apparent mildness and 

 good nature, the baser i)assions and savage instincts of these people 

 are strong within them, and instances of inhumanity occasionally crop 

 out among them. A case which came under the notice of Br. Whitaker 

 was that of a woman who was suffering from spinal deformity, the result 



