child down
to the stream regularly every day, in the cool of the morning and evening,
and treating it to a bath. No wonder that the South Sea islanders are so
amphibious a race, when they are thus launched into the water as soon as
they see the light. I am convinced that it is as natural for a human being
to swim as it is for a duck. And yet, in civilized communities, how many
able-bodied individuals die, like so many drowning kittens, from the
occurrence of the most trivial accidents!

* * * * * * * * * *

The long, luxuriant, and glossy tresses of the Typee damsels often
attracted my admiration. A fine head of hair is the pride and joy of every
woman's heart! Whether, against the express will of Providence, it is
twisted up on the crown of the head and there coiled away; whether it be
built up in a great tower, with combs and pins, or is plastered over the
head in sleek, shiny folds; or whether it be permitted to flow over the
shoulders in natural ringlets, it is always the pride of the owner, and
the glory of the toilette.

The Typee girls devote much of their time to the dressing of their hair
and redundant locks. After bathing, as they sometimes do five or six times
every day, the hair is carefully dried, and if they have been in the sea,
invariably washed in fresh water, and anointed with a highly-scented oil
extracted from the meat of the cocoa-nut. This oil is obtained in great
abundance, by the following very simple process:--

A large vessel of wood, with holes perforated in the bottom, is filled
with the pounded meat, and exposed to the rays of the sun. As the
oleaginous matter exudes, it falls in drops through the apertures into a
wide-mouthed calabash placed underneath. After a sufficient quantity has
thus been collected, the oil undergoes a purifying process, and is then
poured into the small spherical shells of the nuts of the moo-tree, which
are hollowed out to receive it. These nuts are then hermetically sealed
with a resinous gum, and the vegetable fragrance of their green rind soon
imparts to the oil a delightful odour. After a lapse of a few weeks, the
exterior shell of the nuts becomes quite dry and hard, and assumes a
beautiful carnation tint; and when opened they are found to be about
two-thirds full of an ointment of a light yellow colour, and diffusing the
sweetest perfume. This elegant little odorous globe would not be out of
place even upon the toilette of a queen