{"id":"01KG8AM5Y04VZCJ53DW0BQBQFT","cid":"bafkreigi3g7gglgckz7bl7xy4s2lu5ctnwqz5a7nvv7ychfbbqrqgrxk4i","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":8090,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:25.203Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","start_line":8031,"text":"the time a similar hue to the complexion. Nothing, therefore, can be\r\nimagined more singular than the appearance of these nearly naked damsels\r\nimmediately after the application of the cosmetic. To look at one of\r\nthem you would almost suppose she was some vegetable in an unripe state;\r\nand that, instead of living in the shade for ever, she ought to be\r\nplaced out in the sun to ripen.\r\n\r\nAll the islanders are more or less in the habit of anointing themselves;\r\nthe women preferring the ‘aker’ to ‘papa’, and the men using the oil\r\nof the cocoanut. Mehevi was remarkable fond of mollifying his entire\r\ncuticle with this ointment. Sometimes he might be seen, with his whole\r\nbody fairly reeking with the perfumed oil of the nut, looking as if he\r\nhad just emerged from a soap-boiler’s vat, or had undergone the process\r\nof dipping in a tallow-chandlery. To this cause perhaps, united to their\r\nfrequent bathing and extreme cleanliness, is ascribable, in a great\r\nmeasure, the marvellous purity and smoothness of skin exhibited by the\r\nnatives in general.\r\n\r\nThe prevailing tint among the women of the valley was a light olive, and\r\nof this style of complexion Fayaway afforded the most beautiful example.\r\nOthers were still darker; while not a few were of a genuine golden\r\ncolour, and some of a swarthy hue.\r\n\r\nAs agreeing with much previously mentioned in this narrative I may\r\nhere observe that Mendanna, their discoverer, in his account of the\r\nMarquesas, described the natives as wondrously beautiful to behold, and\r\nas nearly resembling the people of southern Europe. The first of these\r\nislands seen by Mendanna was La Madelena, which is not far distant from\r\nNukuheva; and its inhabitants in every respect resemble those dwelling\r\non that and the other islands of the group. Figueroa, the chronicler of\r\nMendanna’s voyage, says, that on the morning the land was descried,\r\nwhen the Spaniards drew near the shore, there sallied forth, in rude\r\nprogression, about seventy canoes, and at the same time many of the\r\ninhabitants (females I presume) made towards the ships by swimming. He\r\nadds, that ‘in complexion they were nearly white; of good stature,\r\nand finely formed; and on their faces and bodies were delineated\r\nrepresentations of fishes and other devices’. The old Don then goes on\r\nto say, ‘There came, among others, two lads paddling their canoe, whose\r\neyes were fixed on the ship; they had beautiful faces and the most\r\npromising animation of countenance; and were in all things so becoming,\r\nthat the pilot-mayor Quiros affirmed, nothing in his life ever caused\r\nhim so much regret as the leaving such fine creatures to be lost in that\r\ncountry.’* More than two hundred years have gone by since the passage of\r\nwhich the above is a translation was written; and it appears to me\r\nnow, as I read it, as fresh and true as if written but yesterday. The\r\nislanders are still the same; and I have seen boys in the Typee Valley\r\nof whose ‘beautiful faces’ and promising ‘animation of countenance’ no\r\none who has not beheld them can form any adequate idea. Cook, in the\r\naccount of his voyage, pronounces the Marquesans as by far the most\r\nsplendid islanders in the South Seas. Stewart, the chaplain of the U.S.\r\nship Vincennes, in his ‘Scenes in the South Seas’, expresses, in more\r\nthan one place, his amazement at the surpassing loveliness of the women;\r\nand says that many of the Nukuheva damsels reminded him forcibly of the\r\nmost celebrated beauties in his own land. Fanning, a Yankee mariner of\r\nsome reputation, likewise records his lively impressions of the physical\r\nappearance of these people; and Commodore David Porter of the U.S.\r\nfrigate Essex, is said to have been vastly smitten by the beauty of the\r\nladies. Their great superiority over all other Polynesians cannot fail\r\nto attract the notice of those who visit the principal groups in the\r\nPacific. The voluptuous Tahitians are the only people who at all deserve\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJR1YH02P9Q4PCAN5J7F8","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1JYRSHWXR7JM0HYS9D4","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5Y0Q1W0GRR5SS2SDT4A","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AM5Y01F8M45B3NTGK2N10","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:28.608Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:41.036Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}