1835.] TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES. 411 



give a general idea of the inclination of the land. In the little 

 recess where the water fell, it did not appear that a breath of 

 wind had ever blown. The thin edges of the great leaves of the 

 banana, damp with spray, were unbroken, instead of being, as is 

 so generally the case, split into a thousand shreds. From OUT 

 position, almost suspended on the mountain-side, there were 

 glimpses into the depths of the neighbouring valleys ; and the 

 lofty points of the central mountains, towering up within sixty 

 degrees of the zenith, hid half the evening sky. Thus seated, 

 it was a sublime spectacle to watch the shades of night gradually 

 obscuring the last and highest pinnacles. 



Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder Tahitian 

 fell on his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long prayer in 

 his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should do, with 

 fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule or any osten- 

 tation of piety. At our meals neither of the men would taste 

 food, without saying beforehand a short grace. Those travellers 

 who think that a Tahitian prays only when the eyes of the mis- 

 sionary are fixed on him, should have slept with us that night on 

 the mountain-side. Before morning it rained very heavily ; but 

 the good thatch of banana- leaves kept us dry. 



November 19//t. At daylight my friends, after their morning 

 prayer, prepared an excellent breakfast in the same manner 

 as in the evening. They themselves certainly partook of it 

 largely ; indeed I never saw any men eat near so much. I sup- 

 pose such enormously capacious stomachs must be the effect of a 

 large part of their diet consisting of fruit and vegetables, which 

 contain, in a given bulk, a comparatively small portion of nutri- 

 ment. Unwittingly, I was the means of my companions break- 

 ing, as I afterwards learned, one of their own laws and resolu- 

 tions : I took with me a flask of spirits, which they could not 

 refuse to partake of; but as often as they drank a little, they put 

 their fingers before their mouths, and uttered the word " Mis- 

 sionary." About two years ago, although thd use of the ava 

 was prevented, drunkenness from the introduction of spirits be- 

 came very prevalent. The missionaries prevailed on a few good 

 men, who saw that their country was rapidly going to ruin, to 

 join with them in a Temperance Society. From good sense or 

 shame, all the chiefs and the queen were at last persuaded to 



