POLYNESIA. 9 



Navigator, Friendly, Society, and Sandwich Islands, the Low Archi- 

 pelago, and New Zealand, and several of the smaller islands. Of 

 most of those which we did not see we obtained information, either 

 through intelligent persons who had resided on them, or through the 

 natives themselves, whom we met at other groups. This was the 

 case with regard to all the islands named in the preceding list, except 

 only Tikopia and Easter Island, for which we must rely on the 

 accounts of preceding navigators. A general view of the results of 

 these observations, as respects the physical and mental characteristics, 

 and what may be termed the national peculiarities of the Polynesians, 

 will be useful for the purpose of comparing them with other branches 

 of the human family, and especially with the other races of Oceanica. 



PHYSICAL TRAITS. 



As a race, the Polynesians are superior to most others in physical 

 endowments. They are somewhat above the middle height, averaging 

 five feet nine or ten inches, and are commonly well formed, with 

 finely developed limbs and muscles. The women are inferior in this 

 respect to the other sex, being too short and stout for graceful propor- 

 tion ; yet most of them when young are not without a kind of pretti- 

 ness, and occasionally one is seen who might be termed handsome. 



Their colour varies from a light to a dusky brown, with a slight 

 tinge of yellow. It is remarkable that the lightest shades should be 

 found nearest the equator, growing darker as we recede from it on 

 either side. The fairest in complexion that we saw were the natives 

 of Fakaafo, in latitude 9 S. ; next came the people of the Marquesas, 

 the Navigator, the Society, and Friendly Groups, while the natives 

 of New Zealand and the Sandwich Islands are a shade deeper in hue 

 than the rest. The latter (the New Zealanders and Hawaiians) are, 

 as a body, inferior to the others in stature and beauty of form ; a fact 

 which will be readily referred to their less abundant food and more 

 laborious life. Perhaps the same circumstances will account for the 

 difference of complexion, which may have less direct relation to the 

 heat of the climate than is commonly supposed. 



The Polynesians have the hair generally thick, strong, and black, 

 with a slight tendency to curl, differing in this respect from the 

 coarse lank hair of the American Indians. In some cases we have 

 seen it of a lighter hue, brown or chestnut, but this is not common . 

 The beard is scanty, and does not usually make its appearance till 



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