172 RELIGION INIMICAL TO BEAUTY. 
nufactory, and promised himself great profit 
from it. | 
By order of the Missionaries, the flute, which 
once awakened innocent pleasure, is heard no 
more. No music but that of the psalms is 
suffered in Tahaiti: dancing, mock-fights, and 
dramatic representations are no longer per- 
mitted. Every pleasure is punished as a sin, 
among a people whom Nature destined to the 
most cheerful enjoyment. One of our friends 
having begun to sing for joy over a present he 
had received, was immediately asked by his 
comrades, with great terror, what he thought 
would be the consequence, shovld the Mis- 
sionaries hear of it. 
It is remarkable that the degenerate Tahai- 
tians are no longer even in person such as they 
are described by the early travellers. ‘Their 
religion appears to have had an effect inimical 
to their beauty. The large-grown Yeris, solely 
employed in praying, eating, and sleeping, are 
all, men and women, excessively fat even in 
early youth. The smaller common people, con- 
strained to some degree of industry, look plump 
and well fed, but not so swollen as their superi- 
