r
CHAP. acted more from the impulse of their natural feelings, and expressed their
March,
1826.
opinions with greater freedom, we were more likely to obtain a correct
knowledge of their real disposition and liabits.
To convey to the reader, who has not perused the above-mentioned
work, an idea of the political state of the island, in which there
has been a material alteration since the period alluded to in the early
voyages, it will be necessary to state briefly that since 1816 a code of
laws has been drawn up by Pomarree IL, with the assistance of the
missionaries, which has subsequently been extended from time to time ;
and that since 1825 a house of parliament has been established, to
which representatives of the several districts in the island are returned
by popular election. The penalties proposed by Pomarree were very
severe, but that of death has as yet been enforced upon four culprits
only.
The limit thus imposed on the arbitrary power of the monarch,
and the security thus afforded to the liberties and properties of the
people, reflect credit upon the missionaries, who were very instrumental
in introducing these laws ; at the same time, had they been better read
in the history of mankind, they would have been less rigid upon particular
points, and would have more readily produced those benefits
which they no doubt hoped would ensue. Magistrates are appointed
to try cases, and conduct their judicial proceedings in open court,
and the police are continually on the alert both day and night to
prevent irregularities, and to suppress the amusements of the people
whom, from mistaken views of religion, they wish to compel to live a life
of austere privation.
W e found the consul in possession of a small but comfortable
house opposite the anchorage, which had been hastily run up by the
natives for his use ; and we took the earliest and most favourable opportunity
of impressing the importance of his situation upon the inhabitants,
by the salute due to his rank. Besides the missionary gentlemen,
we found that several other Europeans were residing iu our
vicinity ; and as some of these, as well as the consul, had their wives
and female relatives with them, we looked forward to the pleasure
of varying our intercourse with the uncouth natives by more agreeable
society—an anticipation which was fully realised by their unremitting CHAP,
attention, especially on the part of the consul, whose liouse was the ,
general resort of all the officers.
Our arrival was immediately communicated, through the proper
channel, to the queen regent, who lived about a mile from the anchorage,
and we received an intimation of her intention of paying an
early visit to the ship.
The arrival of a ship of war at Otaheite is still an event of much
interest, and brings a number of the inhabitants from the districts
adjoining the port, some in canoes, others on foot. The little hamlet
opposite the ship was almost daily crowded with strangers, and a vast
number of canoes skimmed the smooth surface of the harbour, or rather
the narrow channel of water which is tied to the shores of this luxuriant
island by reefs of living coral. A remarkable exception to this
scene of bustle occurred on the day of our arrival, which, although
Saturday, according to our mode of reckoning, was here observed
as the Sabbath, in consequence of the missionaries having proceeded
round by the Cape of Good Hope, and having thereby gained a day
upon us. Next morning, however, a busy scene ensued. Canoes
laden with fruit, vegetables, and articles of curiosity, thronged as
closely round tlie ship as their slender outriggers would allow, while
such of the inhabitants as wanted these means of approaching us
awaited their harvest on the shore.
We soon found that the frequent intercourse of Europeans with
the islanders had effected an alteration in the nature of the currency,
and that those tinselled oruameutswith which we had provided ourselves
were now objects of desire only as presents ; the more substantial
articles of clothing and hard dollars being required for the purposes of
the market, except, perhaps, wliere a ring or a jew’s harp happened for
the moment to attract the attention of some capricious individual.
However gratified we might be to observe this advance towards civilization,
we experienced considerable inconvenience from its effects; for
on leaving the coast of Chili, very few of us had provided dollars, under
an impression that they would not be necessary; and those which we
had were principally of the republican coinage, and as useless in the