POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
17 
feet two. The present king of Raiatea is equally tall. 
Mahiiie^ the king of Huahine^ but for the effects of 
age^ would appear little inferior. Their limbs are 
generally well formed^ and the whole figure propor¬ 
tioned to their height; which renders the difference 
between the rulers and their subjects so striking^ that 
some have supposed they were a distinct race^ the 
descendants of a superior people^ who at a remote 
period had conquered the aborigines^ and perpetuated 
their supremacy. It does not^ however^ appear neces- 
sary^ in accounting for the fact^ to resort to such a 
supposition; different treatment in infancy^ superior 
food^ and distinct habits of life^ are quite sufficient. 
The prevailing colour of the natives is an olive, a 
bronze, or a reddish brown—^equally removed from the 
jet-black of the African and the Asiatic, the yellow 
of the Malay, and the red or copper-colour of the 
aboriginal American, frequently presenting a kind of 
medium between the two latter colours. Considerable 
variety, nevertheless, prevails in the complexion of the 
population of the same island, and as great a diversity 
among the inhabitants of different islands. The na¬ 
tives of the Paliser or Pearl Islands, a short distance 
to the eastward of Tahiti, are darker than the inhabit¬ 
ants of the Georgian group. It is not, however, a blacker 
hue that their skin presents, but a darker red or brown. 
The natives of Maniaa, or Mangeea, one of the Harvey 
cluster, and some of the inhabitants of Rurutu, 
and the neighbourhood to the south of Tahiti, de¬ 
signated by Malte Brun, the Austral Islands,'^ and the 
majority of the reigning family in Raiatea, are not 
darker than the inhabitants of some parts of southern 
Europe. 
II. D 
