Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/225

] however, caught a gonorrhœa there, but from a woman, who had kept company with a man belonging to the Esperance, that had long laboured under the complaint. Have these people been fortunate enough, for the disease to have become naturally extinct among them, after having run through its several stages with rapidity? since, from the testimony of Captain Cook, there can be no doubt but it has formerly made great ravages in these islands.

The skin of the people of the Friendly Islands is tawny, because they frequently expose themselves to the heat of the sun; but the women, who remain pretty constantly within doors, or in the shade of their trees, have very fair complexions. The countenances of the women are in general very pleasing, and highly animated; and the good state of health they enjoy is particularly owing to their extreme cleanliness, and the good quality of their diet.