A CASE OF ATROCITY. 217 



inHanaruro, a crowd of Wahuaners were always 

 in waiting to welcome the arrival of our boat. 

 The friendly intercourse which at all times 

 subsisted between our people and the islanders 

 was truly gratifying. 



I observed with regret, in my daily visits to 

 Hanaruro, that the Wahuaners had lost the 

 simplicity and innocence of character which 

 formerly distinguished them. The profligate 

 habits of the settlers of all nations among them, 

 and of the numerous foreign sailors with whom 

 they constantly associate, have most prejudi 

 cially affected their morals. Fraud, theft, and 

 burglary, never heard of in Tameamea s time, 

 are now frequent. Murder implies a degree of 

 wickedness to which they have not yet attain 

 ed ; but a circumstance that occurred shortly 

 before our arrival, may perhaps become an 

 example even for this worst of crimes. The 

 crew of an English whaler, in which much 

 drinking had been permitted, mutinied, and 

 the Captain received a blow on the head, which, 

 though it did not destroy life, produced in 

 sanity; nor could all the efforts of our phy 

 sician wholly restore his reason. He had in- 

 VOL. II. L 



