TRAFFIC IN OLD CLOTHES. 189 
me incessantly in my dwelling on shore, for this 
new and invaluable appendage of luxury ; and 
were astonished beyond measure, that I, the 
commander, should possess none of it. The 
ladies who finally were unsuccessful in pro- 
curing the means of imitating a fashion thus 
accidentally introduced by the Royal sisters, 
tout comme chez-nous, actually fell ill and gave 
themselves up to the boundless lamentations of 
despair. 
While the Royal Family remained below in 
the cabin, their attendants were engaged on 
deck in purchasing from our sailors all sorts of 
old clothes for a hundred times their value, in 
Spanish piastres. The Tahaitians have yet no 
notion of the value of money, which they get 
from the ships that touch at the island, and by 
their trade in cocoa-oil with New Holland. 
The Missionaries have done their utmost to 
draw money into the country, and for this pur- 
pose have fixed prices on every article of provi- 
sion, under which no one dares to sell them to 
foreign ships. These prices are, however, so 
high that nothing but necessity would induce 
any one to pay them, so that the ships in gene- 
