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142 INTOXICATING LIQUORS. 
to eat with the men, and when the King and the 
Royal Family visited Cook, on board his ship, he 
was obliged to entertain even the princesses in a 
separate cabin. 
The fidelity of a wife among the Tahaitians 
required that she should not favour any man 
without the knowledge and consent of her hus- 
band; and a beating was the punishment gene- 
rally incurred by a violation of this duty. 
Among the failings of the Tahaitians, their 
love of the intoxicating liquor which they pre- 
pared from the much cultivated Ava root, must 
not be omitted. Nor have the Missionaries 
been wholly unsuccessful in this respect. The 
drink is no longer allowed to be prepared, nor 
even the root to be cultivated ; but unfortunately, 
its place has been partly supplied by the intro- 
duction of our wine and brandy; we, however, 
never saw a drunken person. 
Having now noticed all that was reprehen- 
sible in the otherwise amiable character of the 
Ante-christian Tahaitian, I hope the reader, in 
consideration of his many good qualities, will 
forgive his faults, and, in a friendly disposition 
towards him, cast a glance upon his innocent 
