126 
A VOYAGE TO 
7779, any where mentioned; which is, that, even in the hand- 
fomeft faces, there is always a fulnefs of the noftril, without 
any flahiefs or fpreading of the nofe, that diltinguilhes 
them from Europeans. It is not improbable that this 
may be the effect of their ufual mode of falutation, which 
is performed by prefling the ends of their nofes toge¬ 
ther. 
The fame fuperiority that is obfervable in the perfons of 
the Erees , through all the other illands, is found alfo here* 
Thofe whom we law were, without exception, perfectly 
well formed; whereas the lower fort, belides their general 
inferiority, are fabject to all the variety of make and figure 
that is feen in the populace of other countries. Inftances 
of deformity are more frequent here, than in any of the 
other illands. Whilft we were cruifing off Owhyhee, two 
dwarfs came on hoard, one an old man, four feet two 
inches high, but exactly proportioned, and the other a wo¬ 
man, nearly of the fame height. We afterward faw three 
natives who were hump-backed, and a young man, bom 
without hands or feet. Squinting is alfo very common 
amongff them ; and a man, who, they faid, had been bom 
blind, was brought to us to be cured. Belides thefe parti¬ 
cular imperfections, they are, in general, very fubject to 
boils and ulcers, which we attributed to the great quantity 
of fait they eat with their fielh and filh. The Erees are very 
free from thefe complaints; but many of them fuffer Hill 
more dreadful effects from the immoderate ufe of the ava * 
* 
Thofe who were the moft affected by it, had their bodies co¬ 
vered with a white fcurf, their eyes red and inflamed, their 
limbs emaciated, the whole frame trembling and paralytic, 
accompanied witl> a difability to raife the head. Though 
this drug does not appear univerfafly to Ihorten life, as was 
3 evident 
