n of some crystal stream that flows in
silence at their base, or plashes purling over the rocks that obstruct
its bed; and there is the wildness of romance about the deep and lonely
glens, from which the mountains rise like the steep sides of a natural
amphitheatre till they seem to support the clouds that rest upon their
summits. In the character of the teeming vegetation, too, from the
verdant moss that drapes the rocks to the rich foliage of the
bread-fruit tree, the luxuriance of the pandanus, and the waving plumes
of the coconut palm, all nurtured by a prolific soil and matured by the
genial heat of a tropical climate, there is enough to arrest the
attention and to strike the imagination of the wanderer, who, in the
unbroken silence that reigns in these pleasing solitudes, may easily
fancy himself astray in fairyland and treading enchanted ground.[3]

[3] W. Ellis, _Polynesian Researches_, i. 14-18. Compare J.
Cook, _Voyages_, i. 172 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage round the
World_ (London, 1777), i. 253 _sq._; J. Wilson, _Missionary
Voyage to the Southern Pacific Ocean_, pp. 321 _sqq._; D.
Tyerman and G. Bennet, _Journal of Voyages and Travels_ (London,
1831), i. 58 _sq._, 108 _sqq._, 136 _sqq._, 206 _sq._, 234
_sq._, 316 _sq._, 555 _sq._, ii. 51-53, 59-61; F. H. H.
Guillemard, _op. cit._ pp. 511 _sqq._ C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._
ii. 152 _sq._; A. Baessler, _Neue Suedsee-Bilder_ (Berlin, 1900),
pp. 29 _sqq._

Sec. 2. _The Islanders and their Mode of Life_

The islanders are, or were at the date of their discovery by Europeans,
fine specimens of the Polynesian race, being tall, well-proportioned,
and robust. Captain Cook described them as of the largest size of
Europeans. Their complexion varies from olive to bronze and
reddish-brown, frequently presenting a hue intermediate between the
yellow of the Malay and the copper-colour of the American Indians. The
hair is shining black or dark brown, usually straight, but often soft
and curly; never lank and wiry like that of the American Indians, and
only in rare cases woolly or frizzly like that of the Papuans. The men
have beards, which they used to wear in a variety of fashions, always,
however, plucking out the greater part. The shape of the face is comely,
and the facial angle is often as perpendicular as in Europeans. The
cheek-bones are not high; the nose is either straight or aquiline, often
accompanied by a fulness about t