Message #207740

[Jennifer Murdoch]

met with. The natives are not of large stature; a few of the men are tall, but they are of spare build, stand erect with straight carriage, and appear taller than they really are.

Great care was taken to measure accurately the human remains found in the oldest tombs excavated on the island. These proved the ancient islanders to have been of medium size, and the largest skeleton found measured a little short of 6 feet. The men are strong, active, and capable of standing great fatigue--a fact demonstrated to our satisfaction during the exploration of the island. The women are shorter and of smaller bone than the men, as is usually the case throughout Polynesia.