The women of Otaheite, according to “A Description of Pitcairn’s Island and its Inhabitants,” have all learned the art of midwifery. Childbirth generally takes place in the night time, labor lasting seldom more than five hours. It is always safe, and no cases of twins occur. Miscarriages, too, are unknown among them, except from accident. Infants are generally bathed in cold water (which in that latitude must be only moderately cool) three times a day, and are sometimes not weaned for three or four years; and when they are taken from the breast they are fed upon ripe plantains and boiled taroroot rubbed into a paste. Nothing is more extraordinary in the history of the island than the uniform good health of the children; the teething is easily got over; they have no bowel complaints, and are exempt from those contagious diseases which affect children in more civilized countries. Neither the young nor the old are ever vaccinated. “The natives of Otaheite,” says Captain Cook, “both men and women, constantly wash their whole bodies in running water three times every day; once as soon as they rise in the morning, once at noon, and again before they sleep at night, whether the sea or river be near them or at a distance. They wash not only the mouth, but the hands, at their meals, almost between every morsel; and their clothes, as well as their persons, are kept without spot or stain.” “The women,” according to a missionary writing of this people in 1797, “have black and sparkling eyes, teeth white and even, skin thin, soft, and delicate, limbs finely turned; their faces are never darkened with a scowl, or covered with a cloud of sullenness or suspicion; their manners are affable and engaging, they step easy, firm, and graceful, their behavior free and unguarded; always boundless in generosity to each other and to strangers; their tempers mild, gentle, and unaffected; slow to take offense, easily pacified, and seldom retaining resentment or revenge, whatever provocation they may have received. Their arms and hands are very delicately formed, and though they go barefooted, their feet are not coarse and spreading. In private life they are affectionate, tender, and obedient to their husbands, and uncommonly fond of their children; they nurse them with the utmost care, and are particularly attentive to keep their infants’ limbs supple and straight; a cripple is hardly ever seen among them in early life; a sickly child is never known; any thing resembling it would reflect the highest disgrace on the mother.” A very worthy medical friend who spent some time at New Zealand in 1839, gave the writer lately the following particulars concerning midwifery, as practiced among the inhabitants of that island.