The men and boys, except on Sunday, when they appear in English dresses, generally wear only the _mara_, or waist-cloth, which, passing over the hips, and between the legs, is knotted behind; the climate is in fact too hot for cumbersome clothing.

The women, when working, use only a petticoat, with a jacket.
The men are stated to be from five feet eight inches to six feet high, of great muscular strength and excellent figures.

'We did not see,' says Captain Waldegrave, 'one cripple or defective person, except one boy, whom, in the most good-humoured way, and laughing heartily, they brought to me, observing, "You ought to be brothers, you have each lost the right eye." I acknowledged the connexion, and no doubt for the future he will be called the Captain.' Captain Beechey has given a more detailed account of the physical qualities of the Pitcairn Islanders.

He says they are tall, robust, and healthy; their average height five feet ten inches; the tallest man measured six feet and one quarter of an inch, and the shortest of the adults five feet nine inches and one-eighth; their limbs well proportioned, round and straight; their feet turning a little inwards.

A boy of eight years measured four feet and one inch; another of nine years, four feet three inches.