o2 THE NATIVES SABBATH. 



playful and inattentive ; and her husband did not 

 even enter the church, but, seated on the thres- 

 hold, amused himself during the time of service 

 with cutting sticks, playing with children, or 

 in the enjoyment of passing events in the road 

 without pastimes for which he was occasionally 

 rebuked by an elderly chief who stood near him. 

 It was pleasing, however, to notice the 

 manner in which this day was preserved by the 

 mass of the population. No canoes were to 

 be seen on the water, nor any natives occupied 

 with traffic or manual labour ; their food, pro- 

 cured and cooked on the previous day, is of 

 better quality and more abundant than ordinary ; 

 the floors of their huts are usually strewn with 

 a fresh layer of grass ; and natives of every 

 grade, attired in their best apparel, may be seen 

 hastening to church at the sound of the sum- 

 moning bell, and returning an orderly, if not 

 an edified, train. To the stranger, these public 

 demonstrations of piety convey an opinion 

 highly flattering to the native character, and 

 lead him to infer, that if the Tahitians do not 

 possess a true religious sentiment, they at least 

 contrive to ape that virtue exceedingly well, 

 and deserve to be praised for their docile 

 obedience to the wholesome laws enacted for 

 them. 



