[3] "These Were Human Figures Made Of Narrow Pieces Of Wood About Eighteen Inches Or Two Feet Long, And Wrought In A Much Neater And More Proportionate Manner Than We Could Have Expected, After Seeing The Rude Sculpture Of The Statues.

They were made to represent persons of both sexes; the features were not very pleasing, and the whole figure was much too long to be natural; however, there was something characteristic in them, which shewed a taste for the arts.

The wood of which they were made was finely polished, close grained, and of a dark-brown, like that of the casuarina. Mahine was most pleased with these carved human figures, the workmanship of which much excelled those of the e tees in his country, and he purchased several of them, assuring us they would be greatly valued at Otaheite. As he took great pains to collect these curiosities, he once met with a figure of a woman's hand, carved of a yellowish wood, nearly of the natural size. Upon examination, its fingers were all bent upwards, as they are in the action of dancing at Otaheite, and its nails were represented very long, extending at least three-fourths of an inch beyond the fingers end. The wood of which it was made was the rare perfume wood of Otaheite, with the chips of which they communicate fragrance to their oils. We had neither seen this wood growing, nor observed the custom of wearing long nails at this island, and therefore were at a loss to conceive how this piece of well-executed carving could be met with there.

Enter page number Go  Previous Next
Page 501 of 885
Words from 135381 to 135650 of 239428