ed
they are not distinct races of men. To those who have merely touched at
Nukuheva Bay, without visiting other portions of the island, it would
hardly appear credible the diversities presented between the various
small clans inhabiting so diminutive a spot. But the hereditary
hostility which has existed between them for ages, fully accounts for
this.

Not so easy, however, is it to assign an adequate cause for the endless
variety of complexions to be seen in the Typee Valley. During the
festival, I had noticed several young females whose skins were almost as
white as any Saxon damsel's; a slight dash of the mantling brown being
all that marked the difference. This comparative fairness of complexion,
though in a great degree perfectly natural, is partly the result of an
artificial process, and of an entire exclusion from the sun. The juice
of the 'papa' root found in great abundance at the head of the valley,
is held in great esteem as a cosmetic, with which many of the females
daily anoint their whole person. The habitual use of it whitens and
beautifies the skin. Those of the young girls who resort to this method
of heightening their charms, never expose themselves selves to the
rays of the sun; an observance, however, that produces little or no
inconvenience, since there are but few of the inhabited portions of the
vale which are not shaded over with a spreading canopy of boughs, so
that one may journey from house to house, scarcely deviating from the
direct course, and yet never once see his shadow cast upon the ground.

The 'papa', when used, is suffered to remain upon the skin for several
hours; being of a light green colour, it consequently imparts for
the time a similar hue to the complexion. Nothing, therefore, can be
imagined more singular than the appearance of these nearly naked damsels
immediately after the application of the cosmetic. To look at one of
them you would almost suppose she was some vegetable in an unripe state;
and that, instead of living in the shade for ever, she ought to be
placed out in the sun to ripen.

All the islanders are more or less in the habit of anointing themselves;
the women preferring the 'aker' to 'papa', and the men using the oil
of the cocoanut. Mehevi was remarkable fond of mollifying his entire
cuticle with this ointment. Sometimes he might be seen, with his whole
body fairly reeking with the perfumed oil of the nut, looking as if he
had just emerged from a soap-boiler