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   It will be seen from the above that, at the present time, among the children there is a preponderance of girls. The population is now reported at a standstill, the deaths and births about equaling each other in point of numbers. The average number of children to a family is given as three.
   The age of puberty may be placed at 15 years in the male and 13 years in the female.
   In color they are of a light brown, approaching here our lighter mulattos, the parts (face, neck, hands, etc.) exposed to the weather being always somewhat darker.
   They have fine, jet-black hair, which may be wavy or straight (never "kinky"), and which is worn in variable styles, according to the taste of the owner, usually short among the men, and in plaits, down the back, among the women. They never decolorize it with lime nor trim it in any fanciful manner, as is the case in the Samoan Group and other South Sea islands. The beards of the men, which are never very heavy, correspond in these respects with the hair. There are several venerable looking gray-haired and gray-bearded old men among them. I saw no bald-headed ones, with a single exception. This was in the case of an old man who had been a cannibal, and, curiously enough, for generally throughout the islands they are very reticent on this subject, boasted of the number of human beings off whose flesh he had made a savory meal. When asked how he liked "long pig" he smacked his lips and expressed a regret that he could no longer enjoy the luxury. His expression and appearance were in keeping with his hideous appetite, for a more villainous-looking knave does not exist on the island.
   The Rapa Nuiis may be considered a long-lived people. The oldest man and chief on the island, Mati by name, the patriarch of the Rapa Nuiis, does not know his actual age, but is certainly over 90 years old, and his wife, Maakua, of whom a photograph was taken, bears him close company in that as well as in other respects. The last king of the Rapa Nuiis, Maurata, also called Kaimokoe, was captured by the Peruvians, carried to the Chincha Islands, and died in 1864. His nearest descendant and successor, a nephew named Kaitae, is 79 years old. The last survivor of Peruvian captivity, Pakomeo, who was also photographed, must number at least the Biblical threescore and ten. These, with a few others not mentioned, may be considered a remarkable showing among so small a number of people, and proves not only that the original stock must have been a good one, but that their climate, surroundings, and mode of life were promotive of longevity.
   In stature they are not a large race. There are a few mainly among the older men, who are tall, erect, straight, spare in build, 6 feet or thereabouts in height, but the remainder, including the women, are smaller, and they may be classed as a small-bodied, medium-sized people. They are not robust, apparently, neither are they very muscular; on the contrary, most of them present rather a slight, delicate, feeble appearance,

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