1830.] [ 697 ] 



MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE, DOMESTIC AND FOREIGN. 



A New Voyage Round the World in the 

 Years 1823, 4, 5, and 6, by Otto Von 

 Kotzebue, Post Captain in the Russian 

 Navy ; 2 vols. 12no. This voyage round 

 the world appears as an original produc- 

 tion, but we suppose Captain Kotzebue 

 published it in his own country it is 

 four years since he completed his tour. 

 For the most part the regions he visits 

 are not visited every day, and the intel- 

 ligence he brings is most of it news. 

 The missionary journals, indeed, furnish 

 more recent information from the Pacific, 

 but they do not fall into every body's 

 hands, though, apart from their cant, 

 they deserve a wider circulation, for they 

 often supply much that is of value geo- 

 graphically and morally. Capt. K. tells 

 his tale very agreeably it is quite a per- 

 sonal narrative, and unencumbered with 

 matters drily scientific, which seldom 

 mix well with the details of a passing 

 glance, and that is all the captain takes. 

 There is often more liberality in the 

 sentiments than seems calculated for the 

 meridian of Petersburg. 



Captain K. sailed from Cronstadt in a 

 frigate of considerable size, with a cargo 

 for Kamschatka (pronounced Kanschat- 

 ka). His orders were to proceed from 

 thence to the north-west coast of Ame- 

 rica, for the protection of the Russian 

 company at Iloss to remain on that 

 station a year, and then to return to 

 Cronstadt. In going and returning he 

 was left wholly to his own discretion, 

 and he turned the liberty allowed him, 

 to the prosecution of geographical disco- 

 very. Starting from Cronstadt, in the 

 summer of 1823, he first landed at Ports- 

 mouth, and next at Rio Janeiro, where 

 he met with Lord Cochrane, and made 

 his acquaintance. Lord C. had recently 

 quitted Chili, and was then in the Brazil 

 service, and longing to enter the Rus- 

 sian, for the purpose of assisting the 

 Greeks and fighting the Turks. " War 

 seems to him," says Capt. K., " asindis- 

 pensible, and struggle in defence of a good 

 cause the highest enjoyment." The cap- 

 tain, however, is puzzled how to recon- 

 cile this, which he calls enthusiasm, with 

 the noble lord's passion for money. Doub- 

 ling Cape Horn, with scarcely a gale to 

 ripple the waters, he stops next on the 

 coast of Chili, where though he was 

 welcomed with apparent cordiality, sus- 

 picions were excited the natives were 

 full of alarms about the Spaniards, and 

 he found it prudent to hasten his depar- 

 ture. From the port of Talcuquanha, 

 he struck into the south-east trade 

 wind, and 3,000 or 4,000 miles swept 

 over in three weeks, took him to O 

 Tahaita (for the O, it seems, is only 

 the article), where he spent some time 

 long enough to ascertain the dege- 



M.M. New Series. VOL. X. No. GO. 



nerating condition of the island. The 

 advance so rapidly made by the activity 

 and energy of Pomareh is fast retro- 

 grading. The navy, of which so much 

 was said a few years ago, has almost 

 wholly vanished. Three or four mis- 

 sionaries, themselves ignorant men, rule 

 despotically ; and praying and preaching, 

 Captain K. found substituted for more 

 active pursuits. So completely cowed 

 are the natives, by the theocratic disci- 

 pline of these men, that they allow 

 themselves to be driven to prayers by 

 the cudgel. The religion of the islanders, 

 Captain K. affirms, is mere formality. 

 The missionaries, it is true, have abo- 

 lished some superstitions, but only to 

 make way for others scarcely less gross. 

 Thieving and concubinage are under 

 some restraint, but bigotry and hypocrisy 

 flourish vigorously, and the Tahaitians 

 are now any thing but the open and bene- 

 volent beings they appeared to their first 

 discoverers. If human sacrifices are 

 abandoned, it has been at the expense 

 of a large majority of the population. 

 They were once estimated at 150,000 ; 

 and do not now exceed 8,000 the effect 

 of the chief's (Taio) conversion, who 

 butchered right and left, and almost 

 cleared the island. There must be some 

 exaggeration here, for the massacre took 

 place in 17'J7, and Pomareh could never 

 have accomplished what he did with a 

 population of 8,000. A son of Taio, 

 whom Pomareh destroyed, is still living, 

 he has, it seems, a party in the island, 

 and Captain K. anticipates an explosion, 

 and a violent end to the present dynasty 

 and the missionary power. 



At O Tahaita, he met with one of 

 Adams's seraglio, lately returned to her 

 native home from Pitcairn's Island. 

 From information received from her, 

 and an American captain who had re- 

 cently visited the island, M. Kotzebue 

 repeats the now well-known story of the 

 settlement of the mutineers of the 

 Bounty. The Mai du pays had brought 

 the old lady home, but she soon changed 

 her mind again. She found O Tahaita 

 sadly degenerated it was no longer like 

 the Paradise she had left ; nobody could 

 be compared, she said, with her Adams. 

 Missionaries, it seems, are likely to ex- 

 tend their dominion to that peaceful and 

 gentle family. "May Adams's paternal 

 government," says K., " never be ex- 

 changed for despotism, nor his practical 

 lessons of piety be forgotten in empty 

 forms of prayer" a wish Ave heartily 

 echo. 



From O Tahaita Kotzebue steered 

 westerly to Navigator's Islands, and be- 

 yond ascertaining the geographical po- 

 sitions of several contested spots, and 

 discovering new lands. Proceeding then 



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