34 REVISIT TAHITI. 



following day cast anchor in the harbour of 

 Taone, Tahiti. 



The moral improvement, so evident in the 

 Raiateans, we found equally great amongst the 

 Tahitians, by whom indeed the example had 

 been set. Missionary influence now prepon- 

 derated in this island ; and the laws inculcating 

 temperance, soberness, and chastity, were con- 

 sequently strictly enforced. The distillation 

 and importation of ardent spirits were prohi- 

 bited, and intoxication severely punished. It is 

 true that this, like all other legal enactments of 

 the same government, was carried to an oppres- 

 sive extreme ; since every private residence in 

 the settlement was liable to an occasional search 

 by the native authorities, when all the prohibited 

 liquor they contained (above a certain quantity, 

 warranted for medicinal purposes) was seized, 

 and the owner subjected to a pecuniary fine ; 

 the odour of the breath of a native, who had in- 

 dulged in private, was alone considered evi- 



liarly wild, mountainous, and rugged in aspect ; but ex- 

 ceedingly fertile, and abounding in picturesque scenery. 

 The missionary settlement on its shores is chiefly remark- 

 able for a public school, established for the education of 

 the missionaries' children of both sexes ; and also for a 

 stone church, (a rare edifice in these islands,) constructed 

 with the coral blocks of ancient morais. 



