in Beechey has given a more detailed account of the physical
qualities of the Pitcairn Islanders. He says they are tall, robust, and
healthy; their average height five feet ten inches; the tallest man
measured six feet and one quarter of an inch, and the shortest of the
adults five feet nine inches and one-eighth; their limbs well
proportioned, round and straight; their feet turning a little inwards. A
boy of eight years measured four feet and one inch; another of nine
years, four feet three inches. Their simple food and early habits of
exercise give them a muscular power and activity not often surpassed. It
is recorded on the island that George Young and Edward Quintal have each
carried, at one time, a kedge anchor, two sledge hammers, and an
armourer's anvil, weighing together upwards of six hundred pounds; and
that Quintal once carried a boat twenty-eight feet in length. In the
water they are almost as much at home as on land, and can remain almost
a whole day in the sea. They frequently swim round their little island,
the circuit of which is at the least seven miles; and the women are
nearly as expert swimmers as the men.

The female descendants of the Otaheite women are almost as muscular as
the males, and taller than the generality of the sex. Polly Young, who
is not the tallest on the island, measured five feet nine inches and a
half. The features of both men and women are regular and well-formed;
eyes bright and generally hazel, though in a few instances blue; the
eyebrows thin and rarely meeting; the nose a little flattened, and being
rather extended at the nostrils, partakes of the Otaheitan character, as
do the lips, which are broad and strongly sulcated; their ears
moderately large, and the lobes are invariably united with the cheek;
they are generally perforated, when young, for the reception of flowers,
a very common custom among the natives of the South Sea Islands; hair
black, sometimes curling, sometimes straight; teeth regular and white.
On the whole they are a well-looking people.

Captain Beechey says, the women have all learned the art of midwifery;
that parturition generally takes place during the night-time; that the
duration of labour is seldom longer than five hours, and has not yet in
any case proved fatal; but there is no instance of twins, nor of a
single miscarriage, except from accident. Infants are generally bathed
three times a day in cold water, and are sometimes not weaned for three
or