1?8 dress. [1839. 



Sandwich, Marquesas, and Society Islands, communicate 

 with each other without difficulty, after a few days' practice, 

 and the Tahitian and New Zealander readily understand 

 each other.* 



A translation of the scriptures into the Tahitian tongue 

 has been made by the missionaries, and printed at Eimeo. 

 Other books, too, have been published, and the cause of edu- 

 cation is progressing, more slowly than might be desired, but 

 still progressing. The schools are tolerably well attended ; 

 more pains are taken to instruct the rising generation ; and 

 a greater degree of interest in their improvement has recently 

 been manifested. 



(6.) So many new fashions and customs have been intro- 

 duced by Europeans, that it is difficult to say what consti- 

 tutes the national dress. The queen usually appears in pub- 

 lic, in a dress of satin or figured silk, made after the European 

 style, with slippers and gloves of corresponding color, a white 

 satin hat, open and flattened on the upper rim, and sur- 

 mounted with ostrich feathers. So fastidious is she, That she 

 will not appear at church in the afternoon, in the same dress 

 she wore in the morning ; and it is needless to say that others 

 follow her example. The king-consort displays himself in a 

 brilliant crimson uniform, decorated with gold epaulettes, a 

 sword, and a chapeau ornamented with the plumes of the 

 ostrich. The princesses wear white frocks, shoes and stock- 

 ings, and flaring chip, or straw bonnets, which last are all 

 the rage in Tahiti. The chiefs and higher dignitaries also 

 appear in the European dress, on all public occasions, though 

 their coats and trowsers are of all colors and fashions, — the 

 half worn costume of the sailor generally having the pref- 

 erence. 



The ordinary costume of the natives consists of a kind of 

 mantle covering the upper part of the person, and reaching 

 down to the pareu. The latter is about two yards long, is 

 wound around the waist, and extends just below the knees. 

 Some of the men have parens made of blue cotton cloth, and 



* Cook's Voyages, Vol. I, book i, chap. 8; Moerenhout. Vol. I, p. 3'.).'), et seq. 



