POLYNESIA. 13 



At Depeyster's Group, ten degrees farther west, are found people 

 speaking the same language with those of the last-mentioned islands, 

 but of very different personal appearance. In colour, they are as 

 dark as the New Zealanders. Their hair is thick and bushy, and in 

 some slightly frizzled. They differ from all the other Polynesians in 

 having abundant beards. Their skin also is rough to the touch, as in 

 the Melanesians. For reasons which will be hereafter given, we 

 are inclined to believe that some admixture from the neighbouring 

 negro tribes has given rise to these peculiarities. 



CHARACTER.* 



The trait with which a stranger is first struck, in his intercourse 

 with the Polynesian islanders, is a general gaiety and good humour, 

 a desire to please, and a willingness to be amused, which are not only 

 in themselves attractive, but which gratify us the more when we re- 

 member the cold gravity of the American aborigines, or the sullen- 

 ness and irritable pride of the natives of Australia. On the other 

 hand, we find in the natives of the Caroline Archipelago, or at least 

 of some groups in it, the same degree of good humour, accompanied 

 by a real good nature and kindliness of heart, of which it is too often, 

 among the Polynesians, but a deceptive indication. 



Connected, perhaps, with this is an extreme fickleness in their 

 passions and purposes, a great susceptibility to new impressions, and 

 a readiness to adopt new customs and new modes of thinking, in 

 which last characteristic they differ strikingly from most savage and 

 many civilized nations. 



* Nothing is more common in the writings of many voyagers than such phrases as 

 the following : " These natives, like all savages, are cruel and treacherous ;" " The 

 levity and fickleness of the savage character ;" " The tendency to superstition, which is 

 found among all uncivilized tribes ;" " The parental affections which warm the most 

 savage heart," &c. These expressions are evidently founded on a loose idea that a cer- 

 tain sameness of character prevails among barbarous races, and especially that some 

 passions and feelings are found strongly developed in all. A little consideration will 

 show that this view must be erroneous. It is civilization which produces uniformity. 

 The yellow and black races of the Pacific, inhabiting contiguous islands, differ more 

 widely from each other than do any two nations of Europe. The points of resemblance 

 between the negroes of Africa and the Indians of America, even under the same lati- 

 tudes, are very few. In delineating the characters of the different races of the Pacific, 

 an attempt will be made, by contrasting them with one another, to show more clearly 

 the distinguishing characteristics of each. 



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