PORTER’S JOURNAL. 
is 
have, at first sight, a more handsome appearance than those entire- 
ly covered with it; and in a short time we are induced to think that 
tattooing is as necessary an ornament for a native of those islands 
as clothing is for an European. The neatness and beauty with 
which this species of ornament is finished, served greatly to sur¬ 
prise us, and we could not help believing that they had among them 
tattooers by profession, some ot them no doubt, equal in celebri¬ 
ty to M‘Alpin and other renowned taylors of America, for we 
afterwards discovered that the most wealthy and high class were 
more fully and handsomely tattooed than those of an inferior sta¬ 
tion, which is a sufficient evidence that tattooing has its price. 
The young girls, which we had an opportunity of seeing, were, 
as I before observed, handsome and well formed; their skins were 
remarkably soft and smooth, and their complexions no darker than 
many brunetts in America celebrated for their beauty. Their 
modesty was more evident than that of the women of any place 
we have visited since leaving our own country; and if they suf¬ 
fered themselves (although with apparent timidity and reluctance) 
to be presented naked to strangers, may it not be in compliance 
with a custom which teached them to sacrifice to hospitality all that 
is most estimable. Nakedness they cannot consider offensive to 
modesty; they are accustomed to it from their infancy; and there 
is but one part which they seem to think it necessary to hide, and 
for a concealment of that part hands are employed, when no other 
covering can be obtained. Our great mother Eve believed her¬ 
self sufficiently clad when covered with a fig-leaf: perhaps a re¬ 
finement of manners, perhaps only a view to the gratification of 
our vanity, in the number of our ornaments has rendered any far¬ 
ther covering necessary, for dress is not always a proof of modes¬ 
ty and virtue, nor is nakedness that of depravity and want of 
shame. I find no difficulty in believing, that an American lady, 
who exposes to view her face, her bosom and her arms, is as 
modest and virtuous as the wife of a Turk, who is seen only by her 
husband; or that a female of Washington^ Group, who is seen in 
a state of nature, with every charm exposed to view, may be as 
modest and virtuous as either. That they have a high sense of 
Shame and pride, X had afterwards many opportunities of observ¬ 
ing, and am well satisfied that an intercourse with strangers is hot 
