VOYAGE TO THE 
its productions or personal comforts, and where sexual intercourse is 
unrestrained, the population will remain much the same. 
One of the authors of Eoggewein’s Voyage represents the inha- 
bitants of this island as giants, which, if his assertion be true, makes 
it evident that, like the Patagonians, they have degenerated very 
rapidly. Cook remarks that he did not see a man that would mea- 
sure 6 feet; and our estimate of the average height of the people 
was 5 feet 7^ inches. They are a handsome race, the women in par- 
ticular. The fine oval countenances and regular features of the men, 
the smooth, high-rounded foreheads, the rather small and somewhat 
sunken dark eye, and the even rows of ivory-white teeth, impressed 
us with the similarity of their features to the heads brought from 
New Zealand. The colour of their skin is lighter than that of 
the Malays. The general contour of the body is good: the limbs 
are not remarkable for muscularity, but formed more for activity 
than strength. The hair is jet black, and worn moderately short. 
One man of about fifty years of age, the only exception that was 
noticed, had his hair over the forehead of a reddish-ash gray. The 
beards of such as had any were black ; but many had none, or only 
a few hairs on the chin. None of the men had whiskers, which 
seemed to be rather a subject of regret with them, and they ap- 
peared envious of such of our party as had them, who were obliged to 
submit to the ordeal of having them stroked and twisted about for the 
admiration and amusement of their new acquaintances. Both sexes 
still retain the hideous practice of perforating the lobes of the ears, 
though the custom is not so general with the men as formerly. The 
aperture, when distended, which is done by a leaf rolled up and 
forced through it, is about an inch and a quarter in diameter. 
The lobe, deprived of its ear-ring, hangs dangling against the neck, 
and has a very disagreeable appearance, particularly when wet. It is 
sometimes so long as to be greatly in the way ; to obviate which, 
they pass the lobe over the upper part of the ear, or more rarely, 
fasten one lobe to the other, at the back of the head. The lips, 
when closed, form nearly a line, showing very little of the fleshy 
part, and giving a character of resolution to the countenance. The 
