222 MESSAGE FROM KAREMAKU. 



times allow their customers credit, in which 

 case they never fail to charge double, though 

 their profits are at all times enormous. I have 

 myself seen young girls paying two Spanish dol- 

 lars for a string of common glass-beads which 

 would scarcely reach round the throat. The 

 tradespeople practise every species of deception 

 with impunity, for the laws are not yet suffi- 

 ciently civilized to meet offences of this descrip- 

 tion ; which therefore inflict a double injury on 

 their dupe, by robbing him of his property, 

 and affording him an example of successful 

 fraud, which he will generally at least endea- 

 vour to imitate. On Sunday, the inhabitants 

 of Wahu make their appearance at church in 

 full dress to be admired ; and if the spectacle 

 on these occasions is not so thoroughly laughable 

 as at O Tahaiti, it is certainly sufficiently comic. 



The domestic utensils, formerly in use here, 

 have entirely disappeared even from the poorest 

 huts ; and Chinese porcelain has superseded the 

 manufactures from the gourd or the cocoa-nut. 



Fourteen days after our arrival, I received 

 a message from Karemaku, who was still at 

 O Tuai. He assured me that he was rejoiced at 



