concave flaps in front, like
visors to caps--their ears perforated with misshapen holes, in which
were thrust carved ivory horns, or small bunches of flowers. The hair,
from constant bleachings in salt water, dews and tropical suns, had a
brown, sandy hue, or the color of tow--brushed straight back, somewhat
resembling the head costume of ladies of the court of Louis Quatorze!
But what rendered them preeminently hideous, was the tatooing. It,
indeed, bordered on the infernal! Not only were their bodies covered
with these dark stains, of every pattern, figure and device, but large
numbers had angular stripes, two inches broad, beginning at the temple,
crossing the eyelid, part of the nose, traversing the mouth and lips,
and then going out of sight around the face. I judged it to be a dim
idea of the facial angle. Others had the entire upper or lower part of
the visage stained like masques in domino. Isosceles triangles were
common, leaving the noses clear, and from a distance they appeared the
only feature of their faces. There was one demon who claimed a large
share of our attention: not a square inch of him, excepting the tongue
and eye-balls, was free from this hieroglyphical human "picture
printing," and he took immense delight in pointing out many high touches
of art, that might from their position have eluded our observation, and
dilated with, to us, unintelligible gibberish, upon certain other
indescribable arabesques. We thought him intended as a pattern card; an
ambulating advertisement, or sign board, sent abroad, as knowing tailors
send dandies at home, to give an idea of the higher and more correct
delineations of the tatoo: but this individual was altogether so very
interesting a specimen of goblin tapestry, that Champollion himself
might have studied him with much benefit and gusto.

They all looked like consummate rascals, and not in the physiognomony of
a single individual could we detect the slightest approach to
benevolence, or any of the milder virtues. On the contrary, they are
famed for cruelty, selfish apathy, and cunning, and are among the worst
of the Polynesian tribes. There have been two or three praiseworthy
attempts to reform them, by different missionary boards, but they
signally failed. The Nukehevans were found too vicious to even suffer,
without great privation and danger, their teachers to reside on the
islands, and they now remain in the same shocking state of barbarism as
before the dis