234 Voyage of the Novara. 



wines, " the cocoa milk of the Europeans," to be set before 

 the inhabitants of Faaa. A dejeuner a la fourchette was laid out 

 under tents, where, at twenty long tables covered in the 

 European manner, the most distinguished personages took 

 their seats. Every family had contributed something, the 

 whole having the appearance of a regular pic-nic. 



On each table were displayed flowers, bananas, bread-fruit, 

 and other delicious products of the vegetable world. The 

 European guests were seated at a large table erected at the 

 upper end of an alley of trees. The chieftainess and her 

 husband sat beside the Grovernor. Next in order was the 

 Government interpreter, a Mr. Darling, the son of one of 

 the oldest English missionaries sent out to Tahiti, on whom 

 devolved the interpretation into Tahitian or French, as the 

 case might be, of the various speeches and toasts. 



The dinner-service, at our table at least, was entu-ely in the 

 European manner, which seemed to me a pity ; a meal with- 

 out knives or forks, as is the custom among the natives, 

 would have been infinitely more interesting and peculiar. 

 The husband gave the health of the ruler of France, and — 

 evidently in honour of the guests from the banks of the Da- 

 nube — that of the Emperor of Austria ! Immediately there- 

 after the Governor rose suddenly and left the table, with the 

 intention, it would seem, of escaping some untimeous speeches 

 of the natives. The company j^resently broke up, and while 

 a few of the guests returned straight to tlie port, the majority. 



