98 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
u The Faphian Venus driven from the west, 
In Polynesian groves long undisturbed, 
Her shameful rites and orgies foul maintained. 
The wandering voyager at Tahiti found 
Another Daphne.” 
The veil of oblivion must be spread over this part 
of their character, of which the appalling picture, 
drawn by the pen of inspiration in the hand of the 
apostle, in the first chapter of his epistle to the 
Romans, revolting and humiliating as it is, affords 
but too faithful a portraiture. 
The depraved moral habits of the South Sea 
Islanders undoubtedly weaken their mental energies, 
and enervate their physical powers ; and although 
remarkably strong men are now and then met with 
among them, they seem to be more distinguished by 
activity, and capability of endurance, than by mus¬ 
cular strength. They engage in various kinds of 
work with great spirit for a time, but they soon tire. 
Regular, steady habits of labour are only acquired 
by long practice. When a boat manned with 
English seamen, and a canoe with natives, have 
started together from the shore—at their first setting 
out, the natives would soon leave the boat behind, 
but, as they became weary, they would relax their 
vigour; while the seamen, pulling on steadily, 
would not only overtake them, but, if the voyage 
occupied three or four hours, would invariably 
reach their destination first. 
The natives take a much larger quantity of 
refreshment than European labourers, but their 
food is less solid and nutritive. They have, how¬ 
ever, the power of enduring fatigue and hunger in a 
greater degree than those by whom they are visited. 
A native will sometimes travel, in the course of a 
day, thirty or forty miles, frequently over mountain 
