"The nobles of the land," says Stewart, "are so strongly
marked by their external appearance, as at all times to be easily
distinguishable from the common people. They seem, indeed, in size and
stature to be almost a distinct race. They are all large in their frame,
and often excessively corpulent, while the common people are scarce of
the ordinary height of Europeans, and of a thin rather than full
habit."[5] And the difference between the two ranks is as obvious in
their walk and general deportment as in their stature and size, the
nobles bearing themselves with a natural dignity and grace which are
wanting in their social inferiors. Yet there seems to be no reason to
suppose that they belong to a different race from the commoners; the
greater care taken of them in childhood, their better living, sexual
selection, and the influence of heredity appear sufficient to account
for their physical superiority. The women are well built and "beautiful
as ancient statues" with a sweet and engaging expression of countenance.
Yet on the whole the Hawaiians are judged to be physically inferior both
to the Tahitians and to the Marquesans; according to Captain King, they
are rather darker than the Tahitians, and not altogether so handsome a
people. On the other hand they are said to be more intelligent than
either the Tahitians or the Marquesans. Captain King describes them as
of a mild and affectionate disposition, equally remote from the extreme
levity and fickleness of the Tahitians, and from the distant gravity and
reserve of the Tongans.[6] They practised tattooing much less than many
other Polynesians, but their faces, hands, arms, and the forepart of
their bodies were often tattooed with a variety of patterns.[7]

[5] C. S. Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, p. 104.

[6] J. Cook, _Voyages_, vii. 112 _sq._, 115 _sq._; U. Lisiansky,
_Voyage round the World_, pp. 123 _sq._; L. de Freycinet,
_Voyage autour du Monde, Historique_, ii. Deuxieme partie
(Paris, 1839), p. 570; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iv. 23; C. S.
Stewart, _Residence in the Sandwich Islands_, pp. 104, 106; J.
J. Jarves, _op. cit._ pp. 77 _sqq._; J. Remy, _op. cit._ pp.
xxxvii _sq._; F. D. Bennett, _op. cit._ i. 209. The last of
these writers speaks in unfavourable terms of the personal
appearance of the women, whom he found less handsome than the
men and very inferior to the women of the Society Islands.

[7] J