he nostrils; it is seldom flat, though
it was formerly the practice of mothers and nurses to press the nostrils
of the female children, a broad flat nose being by many regarded as a
beauty. The mouth in general is well formed, though the lips are
sometimes large and protuberant, yet never so much as to resemble the
lips of negroes; the chin is usually prominent. The general aspect of
the face very seldom presents any likeness to the Tartar or Mongolian
cast of countenance; while the profile frequently bears a most striking
resemblance to that of Europeans. A roundness and fulness of figure, not
usually extending to corpulency, is characteristic of the race,
especially of the women. In general physique they resemble the Sandwich
Islanders and Tonga Islanders; according to Ellis, they are more robust
than the Marquesans, but inferior in size and strength to the Maoris.[4]

[4] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 175 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 79
_sqq._; C. E. Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171; F. H. H. Guillemard,
_op. cit._ pp. 513 _sq._

Their diet is chiefly vegetable; when Captain Cook visited the islands,
the only tame animals were hogs, dogs, and poultry. Bread-fruit, taro,
yams, bananas, and coconuts are their staple food; the bread-fruit in
particular has been called their staff of life. Taro and yams are
carefully cultivated by the natives, and they also grow the sweet potato
as an article of food, though to a less extent than the other two roots;
in quality the sweet potato of Tahiti is far inferior to that of the
Sandwich Islands. The sea affords a great variety of fish and
shell-fish, which the natives catch and eat; nothing that the sea
produces is said to come amiss to them. Hogs and dogs were in olden
times the only quadrupeds whose flesh was eaten by the Tahitians; but
for the most part they rarely tasted meat, subsisting almost exclusively
on a diet of fruit, vegetables, and fish.[5]

[5] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 185 _sq._ vi. 139 _sqq._; W. Ellis,
_op. cit._ i. 36 _sqq._, 70 _sqq._; J. A. Moerenhout, _Voyages
aux Iles du Grand Ocean_ (Paris, 1837), ii. 93 _sqq._; C. E.
Meinicke, _op. cit._ ii. 171 _sq._

The common houses were of an oblong shape, usually from eighteen to
twenty-four feet in length, by eleven feet in width, the long sides
being parallel to each other, but the two ends commonly rounded,
especially in the houses of chiefs. The thatched roofs were supported on
three parallel