During the winter following the departure of my brother, I passed many of my leisure hours in his room painting the pictures in the “Voyage to Polynesia” which he had given me. With great care I first colored the flowers and the groups of birds. After that I painted the men. When I came to color the two young Tahitian girls who were standing¹ at the edge of the sea (the illustrator had been inspired to depict² them as nymphs) I made them white, all white and pink like a pretty little doll—I thought them very beautiful done so.  
It was reserved for me to learn later than their color is different, and their charms quite otherwise.
 
My ideas of beauty have changed a great deal since that time, and it would have astonished me very much if I had then been told what faces ............