Malayan and Polynesian Languages and Races. 157 



tering the Pacific, Ave first encounter a race with brown com- 

 l^lexion and lank hair in the group of the Feejee and Friendly 

 Islands, in about 180° of east longitude. The same race con- 

 stitutes the inhabitants of tlie Society, the Marquesas, the 

 Lowe Islands, the Navigator Islands, Easter Island, and New 

 Zealand, with the Sandwich Islands. 



Although dispersed over little less than sixty degrees of 

 latitude, and eighty of longitude, the inhabitants of all these 

 islands speak essentially the same language, and approach so 

 near to each other in form, that they must be considered as 

 one race. 



In respect to stature, however, there is either some differ- ' 

 ence between them, or there is some discrepancy in the ac- 

 counts rendered of it by voyagei's ; yet it is not material. 

 Freycinet makes the inhabitants of Tahiti 5 feet 8 inches, 

 and those of the Sandwich Islands 5 feet inches high. 

 This is about the ordinary stature of Europeans. Cook, 

 who describes the people of the Marquesas as the hand- 

 somest of all the Soutli Sea islanders, malces their average 

 height from 5 feet 10 to 6 feet, which is making them some 

 3 inches taller than Europeans. 



La Perouse makes the inhabitants of the Navigator Islands 

 from 6 feet and 1 inch to 6 feet and 2 inches high ; but he 

 admits that he measured individuals not exceeding 5 feet 

 8 inches. He describes them as being equally powerful and 

 athletic as tall, and concludes that, compared with Euro- 

 peans, they are as the Danish horse to the ordinary one of 

 the French provinces. There is no doubt, however, some 

 exaggeration here ; for Captain Wilkes, in his recent voyage, 

 makes their stature only 5 feet 10 inches, and says nothing 

 of their superior strength.* 



The other physical features of this race are given by 

 Freycinet and Cook. The first describes the Sandwich 

 islanders as having oval faces, noses a little flattened, small 

 black eyes, large mouths, projecting lips, long lank hair, a 

 little frizzled, very little beard, and a complexion of a clear 

 brown. 



* Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition. I.oudon, 18-17. 



