Note 1027 — CONCLUSIONS

The inhabitants of Tukopia are described as: “Tall, light-coloured men with thick manes of long, golden hair ... wonderful giants, with soft dark eyes, kind smiles, and child-like countenances”. The surroundings of the villages of this Polynesian island were like well-tended parks, all brushwood having been carefully removed. “They presented sights so different in blissful simplicity from what were to be seen in Melanesia, they all looked so happy, gay, and alluring, that it hardly needed the invitations of the kind people, without weapons or suspicion, and with wreaths of sweet-scented flowers round their heads and bodies, to incline us to stay.” This exquisite morsel of Arcadia was, like other parts of pure Polynesia, governed by a dynasty of hereditary chieftains, who were looked up to with the greatest respect, and to whom honours were paid almost as to demi-gods.—Cf. Sir Harry Johnston in The Westminster Gazette.