PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
137 
monial alliance at St. Christina*. In the preservation of their dead, CHAP, 
wrapping them in an abundance of cloth and mats, they copy theOtahei- 
tans andHapaeans; though in the ultimate disposal of them in caves, 
and keeping them above ground, they differ from all the other islanders. 
Their language and religion are closely allied to several, yet they differ 
essentially from all the above-mentioned tribes in having no huge carved 
images surmounting their morais, and no fiatookas or wattas. Unlike 
them also, they are deficient in canoes, though they might easily con- 
struct them ; they have neither clubs, slings, nor bows and arrows ; and 
are w anting in those marks of self-mutilation which some tribes deem 
indispensable on the death of their chiefs or esteemed friends, or in 
cases when they wish to appease their offended deity. 
They are for the most part fairer and handsomer than the Sand- 
wich Islanders, but less effeminate than the Otaheitans. The average 
height of the men is above that of Englishmen, but they are not so 
robust. One man who came on board measured six feet and half an 
inch, and one on shore six feet, tw^o and a half inches. The former 
measured round the thorax, under the arms, three feet two inches and 
a half; and a person of less stature three feet one inch. The thickest 
part of the middle of this person’s arm, when at rest, was eleven inches 
nnd three-eighths. These dimensions of girth will, I believe, be found 
less in proportion than those of the labouring class of our own country- 
nien, though the general appearance of these islanders at first leads to 
^ different conclusion. They are upright in figure, and round, but not 
I’obust. In their muscles there is a flabbiness, and in the old men a 
laxity of integument, which allows their skin to hang in folds about the 
l^elly and thighs to a greater degree than those I afterwards noticed at 
Otaheite or Woahoo. Two causes may be assigned for this; the nature 
cf their food, and their indolent habits. 
In general the Gambler Islanders have a fine Asiatic countenance, 
with mustachios and beards, but no whiskers ; and when their heads are 
covered with a roll of white cloth, a very common custom, they might 
pass for Moors. It is somewhat remarkable that W'e perceived none of 
* See Krusensteni’s Embassy to Japan. 
