ckoned among the finest, as well as the purest, specimens of
the Polynesian race. Like the Tongans, whom they closely resemble, they
are generally tall and shapely, with full rounded faces and limbs, but
without that grossness and laxity of fibre common in the Tahitians. The
average height of the men is said to be five feet ten inches, but some
of them are over six feet with the thews and sinews of a Hercules. Their
features, though not always regular, are commonly pleasing; and in
particular the forehead is remarkable for its ample development, which,
with the breadth between the eyes, gives to the countenance an
expression of nobleness and dignity. Some of the young men especially
are models of manly beauty; we read of one who, having decked his hair
with the flowers of the scarlet hibiscus, might have sat for an
Antinous. The women are comely enough, but strikingly inferior to the
men in point of personal beauty. The prevailing colour is a light copper
or olive brown, but the shade varies a good deal, deepening somewhat in
fishermen and others who are much exposed to the sun; but it never
approaches the dark chocolate tint, or Vandyke brown, of the
Melanesians. Their hair is usually black and wavy, sometimes curly; but
hardly a vestige is to be seen among them of the crisped and woolly hair
and dusky complexion of the Melanesians, their neighbours on the
west.[17]

[17] Horatio Hale, _Ethnography and Philology of the
United States Exploring Expedition_, pp. 10 _sq._; Ch. Wilkes,
_Narrative of the United States Exploring Expedition_, ii. 125
_sq._; J. E. Erskine, _Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of
the Western Pacific_, pp. 41, 51; C. E. Meinicke, _Die Inseln
des Stillen Oceans_ (Leipzig, 1875-1876), ii. 110 _sq._; G.
Turner, _Samoa_, p. 3; J. B. Stair, _Old Samoa_, p. 58; G.
Brown, _Melanesians and Polynesians_, pp. 55 _sq._

The prepossessing appearance of the Samoans on the whole does not belie
their character. They are reputed to be the most refined and civilised
of all the native races of the Pacific, and this superiority is said to
manifest itself in their social and domestic life.[18] The Samoans, we
are told, are a nation of gentlemen and contrast most favourably with
the generality of the Europeans who come among them.[19] They are said
to carry their habits of cleanliness and decency to a higher point than
the most fastidious of civilised nations;[20] and the Samoan wom