138 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, the fourth class, or those more nearly allied to negroes, thus habited, 
but that it seemed to be confined to those of the lightest complexion. 
Jan. The colour of their eyes is either hazel or dark brown : they are small, 
1 826 * • • 
deep in the head, and have generally an expression of cunning. Their 
eyebrows are naturally arched, and seldom meet in front ; the cheek- 
bones are not so prominent as in the fourth class, and the lips are 
thinner ; the ears are moderately large, and the lobes attached to the 
cheek, as in all the Pitcairn Islanders, but not perforated : the nose 
in general is aquiline ; the teeth, in the fourth class especially, not 
remarkable for evenness or whiteness, and seem to fall out at an early 
period ; the hair is turned back and cut straight, and would be quite 
black, were it less subjected to the sun, or, like that of the islanders just 
mentioned, well oiled ; but, exposed as it is to a scorching sun, it becomes 
dried up and of different hues on the same head ; and combs being 
unknown, it is bushy and impervious : the mustachios grow long, but 
the beards, which are kept from three to four inches in length, are 
sometimes brought to a point, at others divided into two ; one man, 
however, was observed with a beard which hung down to the pit of the 
stomach : the hands are large, but the feet small and elegant, and the 
toes close together, from which it is probable that they pass a great por- 
tion of their time upon their rafts, or idly basking in the sun, or lying 
upon their stone pavements like theHapaeans. The women are below the 
common standard height, and in personal shape and beauty far inferior 
to the males. The wife of the chief, who has been already described, 
was the finest woman I saw among them. Her dress may be consi- 
dered a fair specimen of the general covering of the women, who have 
no ornaments of any kind, and appeared quite indifferent to the beads 
and trinkets which were offered them. 
Tattooing is here so universally practised that it is rare to meet a 
man without it; and it is carried to such an extent that the figure is 
sometimes covered with small checkered lines from the neck to the 
ankles, though the breast is generally exempt, or only ornamented with 
a single device. In some, generally elderly men, the face is covered 
below the eyes, in which case the lines or net-work are more open than 
on other parts of the body, probably on account of the pain of the 
