REFLECTIONS. 259 



to take pleasure in such vain amusements. The 

 nobleman, not wishing to dispute the point, gave 

 up his good-natured intentions. 



That a people naturally so lively, should 

 readily submit to such gloomy restrictions at 

 the command of their rulers, proves how easily 

 a wise government might introduce among them 

 the blessings of rational civilization. Well 

 might Karemaku exclaim, " Tameamea, thou 

 hast died too soon !^' Had this monarch doubled 

 the usual age of man, and accorded his protec- 

 tion to such a reformer as Stewart, the Sandwich 

 Islanders might by this time have acquired the 

 respect of all other nations, instead of retro- 

 grading in the arts of civilization, and assuming 

 under compulsion the hypocritical appearance 

 of an affected devotion. 



In taking a walk with an American merchant 

 established here, I met a naked old man with a 

 book in his hand, whom my companion ad- 

 dressed, and knowing him for a determined op- 

 ponent of the new system, expressed his surprise 

 at his occupation, and enquired how long he had 

 been studying his alphabet. With a roguish 

 laugh which seemed intended to conceal a more 



