22 



THE LIVING RACES OF MANKIND 



Photo by the Davey Photo Co.] 



A WOMAN OF HAWAII. 



missions; the short and picturesque 

 national garb has been lengthened and 

 rendered unsightly; the Sunday songs 

 and dances have been prohibited; and 

 to harsh treatment, intemperance, 

 and epidemics thousands have fallen 

 victims." 



According to a French traveller, 

 the people make up for the prohibition 

 of their old national songs and dances 

 by greatly increased drinking habits. 

 Delicious oranges flourish abundantly 

 here, and the natives have now been 

 instructed in the art of making an 

 intoxicating drink by fermenting orange 

 juice. Men, women, and children in- 

 dulge in excessive drinking, and have 

 become greatly degraded by this habit. 

 Our illustrations on page 17, excellent 

 as they are, can hardly do justice to 

 these handsome people. Their forms 

 used to be quite classic, but the type 

 has deteriorated of late years. Even 

 judged by European standards, a Tahiti 

 woman would be counted beautiful, her 

 large full eyes and rich hair lending 



charms such as no words can adequately describe. The practice of tattooing is rapidly 

 dying out. Men formerly were elaborately tattooed on the legs, arms, and the hands; women 

 mostly on the arms, ankles, and feet. 



The people of Tahiti being, like other Polynesians, great lovers of etiquette, and naturally 

 hospitable, have invented many quaint ways of making presents, especially in giving bark- 

 cloth to a chief. One of these ceremonies has been described by Captain Cook, who himself 

 was the recipient of such a present. They wrap the cloth round a girl; the end is laid on 

 the ground, and then she rolls over and over until she has become a kind of living reel, not 

 of cotton, but of cloth. On being taken into the presence of the chief, she is laid down on 

 the ground, and turns round and round until all is unwound. One wonders whether the girl 

 is "thrown in" as a mere detail; "take me also" would appear, on the face of it, to be the 

 idea, but that is only surmise. 



The nobles of Tahiti naturally cling to their rank, but make no parade of it. Great 

 deference is paid to a chief by his own people, but he dresses very much as they do, and 

 partakes of the same kind of food. Mr. Bennett says it was " usual to see Queen Amiata 

 clad in a loose cotton gown, bareheaded and barefooted, mingling with natives of every class. 

 Her meals, too, are equally unostentatious, the bread-fruit, poe, cocoanuts, and baked pig, 

 intended for her food, being placed on a layer of fresh leaves spread on the ground" 

 ("Whaling Voyage Round the Globe"). 



In old days there was a confraternity called the "Aroeis" throughout these islands. The 

 men who belonged to it believed in the immortality of the soul, and in a heaven suited to 

 their natures, in which every one was young and fresh. They preached no sermons on self- 

 denial and discipline quite the other way; for they proclaimed aloud that a life of 

 unrestrained licentiousness here was the path leading to eternal happiness hereafter. 

 Travelling from one island to another, they proclaimed this fearful doctrine, and were seen by 

 Captain Cook. Everywhere they were received with much feasting, accompanied by the 



