14 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
landers, and probably resemble in person the Friendly 
Islanders, as much as any others in the Pacific ; 
exhibiting, however, neither the gravity of the latter, 
nor the vivacity of the Marquesans. Their limbs are 
well formed, and although where corpulency prevails 
there is a degree of sluggishness in their actions, 
they are generally active in their movements, grace¬ 
ful and stately in their gait, and perfectly unem¬ 
barrassed in their address. Those who reside in the 
interior, or frequently visit the mountainous parts of 
the islands, form an exception to this remark. The 
constant use of the naked feet in climbing the steep 
sides of the rocks, or the narrow defiles of the 
ravines, probably induces them to turn their toes 
inwards, which renders their gait exceedingly awk¬ 
ward. 
Among the many models of perfection in the hu¬ 
man figure that appear in the islands, (presenting to 
the eye of the stranger all that is beautiful in sym¬ 
metry and graceful in action,) instances of deformity 
are now frequently seen, arising from a loathsome 
disease, of foreign origin, affecting the features of the 
face, and muscular parts of the body. There is 
another disease, which forms such a curvature of 
the upper part of the spine, as to produce what is 
termed a humped or broken back. The disease 
which produces this distortion of shape, and deformity 
of appearance, is declared by the natives, to have 
been unknown to their ancestors; and, according to 
the accounts some of them give it, was the result of 
a disease, left by the crew of Vancouver’s ship. It 
does not prevail in any of the other islands; and 
although such numbers are now affected with it. 
