ill Aa*-rii1 / 



398 APPEARANCE OF THE NATIVES, [chap 



houses ; the owners of which everywhere gave us a cheerful/ 

 and most hospitable reception. 



I was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabi- 

 tants. There is a mildness in the expression of their 

 countenances which at once banishes the idea of a 

 savage ; and an intelligence which shows that the}^ are 

 advancing in civilisation. The common people, when 

 working, keep the upper part of their bodies quite 

 naked ; and it is then that the Tahitians are seen to 

 advantage. They are very tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, 

 and well-proportioned. It has been remarked that it re- 

 quires little habit to make a dark skin more pleasing and 

 natural to the eye of an European than his own colour. A 

 white man bathing by the side of a Tahitian was like a 

 plant bleached by the gardener's art compared with a fine 

 dark green one growing vigorously in the open fields. 

 Most of the men are tattooed, and the ornaments follow 

 the curvature of the body so gracefully, that they have a 

 very elegant effect. One common pattern, varying in its 

 details, is somewhat like the crown of a palm-tree. It 

 springs from the central line of the back, and gracefully 

 curls round both sides. The simile may be a fanciful one, 

 but I thought the body of a man thus ornamented was like 

 the trunk of a noble tree embraced by a delicate creeper. 



Many of the elder people had their feet covered with 

 small figures, so placed as to resemble a sock. This 

 fashion, however, is partly gone by, and has been suc- 

 ceeded by others. Here, although fashion is far from 

 immutable, every one must abide by that prevailing in his 

 youth. An old man has thus his age for ever stamped on 

 his body, and he cannot assume the airs of a young dandy. 

 The women are tattooed in the same manner as the men, 

 and very commonly on their fingers. One unbecoming 

 fashion is now almost universal : namely, shaving the 

 hair from the upper part of the head, in a circular form, 

 so as to leave only an outer ring. The missionaries have 

 tried to persuade the people to change this habit ; but it is 

 the fashion, and that is a sufficient answer at Tahiti, as 

 well as at Paris. I was much disappointed in the personal 

 appearance of the women ; they are far inferior in every 

 respect to the men. The custom of wearing a white or 

 scarlet flower in the back of the head, or through a small 

 hole in each ear, is pretty. A crown of woven cocoa-nut 

 leaves is also worn as a shade for the eyes. The w^^omen 



