In Brazil I have often admired the varied
beauty of the bananas, palms, and orange-trees contrasted together;
and here we also have the bread-fruit, conspicuous from its large,
glossy, and deeply digitated leaf. It is admirable to behold groves
of a tree, sending forth its branches with the vigour of an English
oak, loaded with large and most nutritious fruit. However seldom
the usefulness of an object can account for the pleasure of
beholding it, in the case of these beautiful woods, the knowledge
of their high productiveness no doubt enters largely into the
feeling of admiration. The little winding paths, cool from the
surrounding shade, led to the scattered houses; the owners of which
everywhere gave us a cheerful and most hospitable reception.
I was pleased with nothing so much as with the inhabitants. There
is a mildness in the expression of their countenances which at once
banishes the idea of a savage; and an intelligence which shows that
they are advancing in civilisation. The common people, when
working, keep the upper part of their bodies quite naked; and it is
then that the Tahitians are seen to advantage. They are very tall,
broad-shouldered, athletic, and well-proportioned.
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