344 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
years, the mothers are still very fond of shaving the 
heads, or cutting the hair of their infants as close as 
possible. This often gives them a very singular appear¬ 
ance. The children are in general large and finely 
formed; and, but for the prevalence of the disease which 
produces such a distortion of the spine, there is reason 
to believe, that a deformed person would be very rarely 
seen among the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands. 
Having suspended the narrative of my personal pro¬ 
ceedings and observations during several preceding chap ¬ 
ters, for the purpose of introducing an account of the 
remarkable change which had taken place in the islands, 
prior to our arrival, but which had been a very frequent 
topic of conversation during our residence with our pre¬ 
decessors,—having, also, given a brief account of some 
of the principal institutions and usages, belonging to the 
system which the nation had abolished,—I propose to 
resume the narrative with the commencement of the 
succeeding chapter. 
