482 



TAHITI. 



Nov. 1835. 



ments follow the curvature of the body so gracefully, that 

 they have a very pleasing and elegant effect. One common 

 figure, varying only in its detail, branches somewhat like a 

 tuft of palm-leaves* from the line of the backbone, and 

 curls round each side. 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 older people had their feet covered with 

 small figures, placed in order so as to resemble a sock. 

 This fashion, however, is partly gone by, and has been 

 succeeded by others. Here, although each man must for 

 ever abide by the whim which reigned in his early days, yet 

 fashion is far from immutable. An old man has thus his 

 age for ever stamped cn his body, and he cannot assume the 

 airs of a young dandy. The women are also tattooed in the 

 same manner as the men, and very commonly on their 

 fingers. An unbecoming fashion in one respect is now 

 almost universal: it is that of cutting the hair, or rather 

 shaving it, from the upper part of the head, in a circular 

 form, so as to leave only an outer ring of hair. The 

 missionaries have tried to persuade the people to change 

 this habit: but it is the fashion, and that is sufficient 

 answer at Tahiti as well as at Paris. I was much dis- 

 appointed in the personal appearance of the women ; they 

 are far inferior in every respect to the men. The custoni 

 of wearing a flower in the back of the head, or through a 

 small hole in each ear, is pretty; the flower is generally 

 either white or scarlet, and like the Camelia Japonica. 

 They wear also a sort of crown of woven cocoa-nut leaves, 

 as a shade to their eyes. The women appear to be in 

 greater want of some becoming costume, even than the 

 men. 



Nearly all understand a little English; — that is, they 

 know the names of common things, and by the aid of this, 



* The similarity is not closer than between the capital of a Corinthian 

 column and a tuft of acanthus. 



