Page:Some Account of New Zealand.pdf/35

18 stances we observe all the characteristics of old age at a very early period of life, while in others juvenility is protracted to an advanced stage.

Returning from this digression, I must say something of the fair part of the creation of the Bay of Islands, and there is really no great impropriety in the term, for many of the women were scarcely to be denominated brunettes. Their features in general are regular and pleasing, with long black hair, and dark penetrating eyes. The tattooing of their lips, and the quantity of oil and red earth with which they anoint their persons and hair, would not be agreeable to the taste of a refined European; but I can conceive to a New Zealand lover, their well-formed figure, the interesting cast of their countenance, and the sweet tone of their voice, must render them extremely desirable companions, to soothe his cares, and strew his path through life with flowers: for savage life has its cares and perplexities as well as that of the polished native of the most enlightened country.