488 
COMPENDIUM OF GEOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL 
-and the Phoenix group already mentioned are several 
small islands, widely separated, which are of little im¬ 
portance except for the guano yielded by them. The 
last Polynesian archipelago is that of the Hawaii or 
Sandwich Islands, situated far away on the northern 
tropic, with a long chain of smaller islets stretching to¬ 
wards the north-west. Finally, isolated from all other 
lands by a vast expanse of sea, we have Easter Island, 
lying about midway between the Low Archipelago and 
the coast of South America. 
2. The Polynesian Race. 
As all the Polynesian Islands are inhabited by one 
race, which differs very little in the several islands, 
we will give here a brief general description of this in¬ 
teresting people, the Tongans and Samoans being taken 
as typical examples, except when other islands are 
specially referred to. 
The Polynesians, according to the universal testimony 
of travellers and residents, are one of the very finest 
races on the globe. Lord George Campbell, in his de¬ 
scription of the voyage of the Challenger , says—“ There 
are no people in the world who strike one at first so 
much as these Friendly Islanders. Their clear, light, 
copper-brown coloured skins, yellow and curly hair, good- 
humoured, handsome faces, their tout ensemble , formed a 
novel and splendid picture of the genus homo ; and, as far 
as physique and appearance go, they gave one certainly 
an impression of being a superior race to ours.” Cap¬ 
tain Erskine, speaking of the same people, says—“ The 
men were a remarkably fine-looking set of people, and 
among them were several above six feet high, and of 
Herculean proportions. One stout fellow attracted atten- 
