22 



TAHITI. 



but tapa or matting is employed as an occasional screen, 

 of this description may be erected for about fifty dollars. 



A building 



NATIVE HOUSE, TAHITI. 



The Tahitians use neither tables nor chairs. Their bedsteads are 

 formed of a framework of cane, raised a short distance from the 

 ground, upon which a few mats are laid. A pillow stuffed with 

 aromatic herbs is in general use among the better class. 



The natives are generally to be found in their houses, in a circle, 

 chatting, reading, and singing, or smoking, unless they be, as is often 

 the case, asleep. They are seldom to be seen engaged in manual 

 labour, except on the sides of the streams where they are employed in 

 w r ashing, or at the residences of the chiefs. 



I hesitate to speak of the females of this island, for I differ from all 

 who have gone before me in relation to their vaunted beauty. I did 

 not see among them a single woman whom I could call handsome. 

 They have, indeed, a soft sleepiness about the eyes, which may be 

 fascinating to some, but I should rather ascribe the celebrity their 

 charms have obtained among navigators, to their cheerfulness and 

 gaiety. Their figures are bad, and the greater part of them are 

 parrot-toed. They are exceedingly prone to prattling, or may rather 

 be said to have a tattling disposition, for they cannot keep even their 

 own secrets. 



This want of reserve is not confined to the women : the men are 

 also incapable of keeping a secret. A crime is divulged almost as 

 soon as committed, and for a small reward they will become informers 

 against their nearest relatives and friends. 



I have spoken of the incongruous character of the dress of the 

 females. Among the men this is not as strongly marked as it is said 

 formerly to have been, and they are no longer content with cast-off 

 clothing. Those who can obtain it are dressed in sailors' garb. Others 

 wear around their bodies, a wrapper called pareu, which extends to 

 the calf of the leg. This is now usually made of blue cotton cloth, 

 and with it some wear a cotton shirt of gaudy colours. Others 



