at darker in colour than the
Samoans.[23] According to the French explorer, Dumont d'Urville, who
passed about a month in Tongataboo in 1827, the Polynesian race in Tonga
exhibits less admixture with the swarthy Melanesian race than in Tahiti
and New Zealand, there being far fewer individuals of stunted stature,
flat noses, and frizzly hair among the Tongans than among the other
Polynesians.[24] Even among the Tongans the physical superiority of the
chiefs to the common people is said to be conspicuous; they are taller,
comelier, and lighter in colour than the lower orders. Some would
explain the difference by a difference in upbringing, noblemen being
more carefully nursed, better fed, and less exposed to the sun than
commoners;[25] but it is possible that they come of a different and
better stock.

[19] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 401 _sq._

[20] Charles Wilkes, _Narrative of the United States Exploring
Expedition_, New Edition (New York, 1851), iii. 10, 25.

[21] Quoted by F. H. H. Guillemard, _Australasia_, ii. p. 488.

[22] Jerome Grange, in _Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_,
xvii. (1845) p. 8.

[23] Horatio Hale, _United States Exploring Expedition,
Ethnography and Philology_, pp. 10 _sq._; Charles Wilkes,
_Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, iii. 25;
J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the
Western Pacific_, pp. 116, 155. The naturalist J. R. Forster
thought the Tongans darker than the Tahitians. See his
_Observations made during a Voyage round the World_ (London,
1778), p. 234.

[24] J. Dumont d'Urville, _Voyage de la corvette Astrolabe,
Histoire du Voyage_, iv. (Paris, 1832) p. 229.

[25] J. E. Erskine, _op. cit._ pp. 155 _sq._; Sarah S. Farmer,
_Tonga and the Friendly Islands_, p. 140.

Intellectually the Tongans are reported to "surpass all the other South
Sea islanders in their mental development, showing great skill in the
structure of their dwellings and the manufacture of their implements,
weapons, and dress."[26] They are bold navigators,[27] and Captain Cook
observes that "nothing can be a more demonstrative evidence of their
ingenuity than the construction and make of their canoes, which, in
point of neatness and workmanship, exceed everything of this kind we saw
in this sea."[28] However, the Tongans appear to have acquired much of
their skill in the art of building and rig