SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
13.5 
words are sometimes so altered as to bear no very near re¬ 
semblance to their origin, owing to the want of certain con¬ 
sonants, such as s and f in their language. We might an¬ 
ticipate many a strange etymology, and many a wild conjec¬ 
ture, on the part of future philologists, if the art of printing 
had not placed beyond a chance of oblivion the discovery 
of these Islands, and its consequent effects on their customs, 
manners, and language. 
From the language of our new friends it is natural to 
turn to their looks. They are generally well made, and 
the nobles are almost universally taller and larger than the 
middle size in Europe ; they are strong, active, and capable 
of enduring great fatigue. The skin is of a fine brown, in¬ 
clining to copper-colour: their hair is rather coarse and 
black; in some it curls naturally, in others it is quite 
straight: they still discolour the roots with lime, as in 
Cook’s and Vancouver’s time, and cut it in every variety of 
fashion. Sometimes it is allowed to flow loosely; some¬ 
times it is cut and tied so as to form a sort of aigrette on the 
crown of the head ; and again it is shorn on both sides so 
that a crest, like the bear-skin of an old dragoon’s helmet, 
remains. Their eyes are quick, lively, and apparently never 
at rest, which last quality.gives an expression of wildness 
to the countenance. They have naturally fine teeth, but 
