Joseph Banks - Endeavour Journal, 25 August 1768 - 12 July 1771 - No. 0394
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[Page 394]
Manners & Customs of S. Sea Islands
to what live upon the flats. They are of the larger size of Europaeans all excellently made & some handsome both men & women the only bad feature they have is their noses which are in general flat but to balance this their teeth are almost without exception even & white to perfection & the eyes of the women especialy are full of expression & fire. in Colour they differ very much: the inferior those of inferior rank who are obligd in the excersise of their professions fishing especialy to be much exposd to the sun & air are of a dark brown the superiors again who spend most of their time in their houses under shelter are seldom browner (the women especialy) than that kind of Brunette which many in Europe preferr to the finest red & white: complexion indeed they seldom have tho some I have seen shew a Blush very manifestly this is perhaps owing to the thickness of their skins but that fault is in my opinion well compensated by their infinite smoothness much superior to any thing I have met with in Europe
The men as I have before said are rather large I have measurd one 6 feet 3½ the superior women are also as large as Europaeans but the inferior sort generaly small some very small owing possibly to their early amours which they are much