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instead of being split, as generally is the case, into a thousand
shreds. From our position, almost suspended on the
mountain-side, there were glimpses into the depths of the
neighbouring valleys; and the lofty points of the central
mountains, towering up within sixty degrees of the zenith,
hid half the evening slty. Thus seated, it was a sublime
spectacle to watch the shades of night gradually obscuring
the last and highest pinnacles.
Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder Tahitian
fell on his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer
in his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do,
with fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule or any
ostentation of piety. At our meals neither of the men would
taste food, without saying beforehand a short grace. Those
travellers, who think that a Tahitian prays only when the
eyes of the missionary are fixed on him, shovdd have slept
with us that night on the mountain-side. Before morning
it rained very heavily; but the good thatch of banana-leaves
kept us dry.
N o v e m b e r 1 9 t h .— At daylight my friends, after their
morning prayer, prepared an excellent breakfast in the same
manner as in the evening. They themselves certainly partook
of it largely; indeed I never saw any men eat nearly so
much. I should suppose such capacious stomachs must be
the result of a large part of their diet consisting of fruit and
vegetables, which contain, in a given bulk, a comparatively
small portion of nutriment. Unwittingly, I was the means of
my companions breaking {as I afterwards learned) one of their
own laws and resolutions. I took with me a flask of spirits,
which they could not resolve to refuse; but as often as they
drank a httle, they put their fingers before their mouths, and
uttered the word “ Missionary.” About two years ago,
although the use of the ava was prevented, drunkenness from
the introduction of spirits became very prevalent. The missionaries
prevailed on a few good men, who saw their country
rapidly going to ruin, to join with them in a Temperance
Society. From good sense or shame all the chiefs and the
queen were at last persuaded to j oin it. Immediately a law was
passed, that no spirits should be allowed to be introduced into
the island, and that he who sold and he who bought the forbidden
article, should be punished by a fine. With remarkable
justice, a certain period was allowed for stock in hand to
be sold, before the law came into effect. But when it did, a
general search was made in which even the houses of the
missionaries were not exempted, and all the ava {as the
natives call all ardent spirits) was poured on the ground.
When one reflects on the effect of intemperance on the aborigines
of the two Americas, I think it will be acknowledged,
that every well-wisher of Tahiti owes no common debt of
gratitude to the missionaries. As long as the little island of
St. Helena remained under the government of the East India
Company, spirits, owing to the great injury they had produced,
were not allowed to be imported; but wine was supplied
from the Cape of Good Hope. It is rather a striking,
and not very gratifying fact, that in the same year that spirits
were allowed to be sold on that island, their use was banished
from Tahiti by the free wiU of the people.
After breakfast we proceeded on our journey. As my
object was merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we
returned by another track, which descended into the main
valley lower down. For some distance we wound, by a most
intricate path, along the side of the mountain which formed
the valley. In the less precipitous parts we passed through
extensive groves of the wild banana. The Tahitians, with
their naked, tattooed bodies, their heads ornamented with
flowers, and seen in the dark shade of the woods, would have
formed a fine picture of man, inhabiting some primeval
forest. In our descent we followed the line of ridges; these
were exceedingly narrow, and for considerable lengths steep
as a ladder; but all clothed with vegetation. The extreme
care necessary in poising each step rendered the walk
fatiguing. I am never weary of expressing my astonishment
at these ravines and precipices: the' mountains may
almost be described, as rent by so many crevices. When
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