888 
SOUTH SEA 
enjoy that kind of pleasant countenance which is always 
the companion of good temper, and which is so impor- 
tant an auxiliary of female loveliness ; they smile with 
such an innocent sweetness that it is impossible to sup- 
pose for an instant that the coarser passions ever ruffle 
their breasts, y/hile their eyes are generally large, and 
very expressive. One especially I remember, and until 
I had seen hers, I never imagined that human eyes 
could possess such amazing beauty,— they were large 
and full, yet much animated ; the iris was of a dark 
brown colour, and the adnata or white, as it is termed, 
resembled the bluish whiteness of mother-o’-pearl ; but 
it was the lustre of those beautiful orbs which caused 
them to be so much noticed,— they appeared as if they 
were large drops of fluid crystal, held in form by some- 
thing magical, and when they moved they glistened with 
a most surpassing effect— not with the brightness of a 
glassy hardness, but with the softness of the reflected 
light of a rich diamond ; the eyelids were beautifully 
carved, and exquisitely finished, having long dark lashes 
sweetly turned and regularly placed, making the whole 
appear of such wonderful perfection that language falls 
short in the description. When I beheld them I could 
scarcely believe them to be human, they were so much 
superior in their beauty to all previous fancy of mine 0 
The owner of them, too, was a very pretty, and she 
appeared an innocent, girl. 
In the dusk of the evening, previous to the day on 
which we took our departure from Bolabola, I was 
standing on the quarter-deck of our vessel, in conversa- 
