412 TAHITI. [CHAP. xvm. 



join. Immediately a law was passed, that no spirits should be 

 allowed to be introduced into the island, and that he who sold 

 and he who bought the forbidden article should be punished by 

 a fine. With remarkable justice, a certain period was allowed 

 for stock in hand to be sold, before the law came into effect. 

 But when it did, a general search was made, in which even the 

 houses of the missionaries were not exempted, and all the ava 

 (as the natives call all ardent spirits) was poured on the ground. 

 When one reflects on the effect of intemperance on the aborigines 

 of the two Americas, I think it will be acknowledged that every 

 well-wisher of Tahiti owes no common debt of gratitude to the 

 missionaries. As long as the little island of St. Helena remained 

 under the government of the East India Company, spirits, owing 

 to the great injury they had produced, were not allowed to be 

 imported ; but wine was supplied from the Cape of Good Hope. 

 It is rather a striking, and not very gratifying fact, that in the 

 same year that spirits were allowed to be sold in St. Helena, 

 their use was banished from Tahiti by the free will of the 

 people. 



After breakfast we proceeded on our journey. As my object 

 was merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we returned 

 by another track, which descended into the main valley lower 

 down. For some distance we wound, by a most intricate path, 

 along the side of the mountain which formed the valley. In the 

 Jess precipitous parts we passed through extensive groves of the 

 wild banana. The Tahitians, with their naked, tattooed bodies, 

 their heads ornamented with flowers, and seen in the dark shade 

 of these groves, would have formed a fine picture of man inhabit- 

 ing some primeval land. In our descent we followed the lin^ 

 of ridges ; these were exceedingly narrow, and for considerable 

 lengths steep as a ladder ; but all clothed with vegetation. The 

 extreme care necessary in poising each step rendered the walk 

 fatiguing. I did not cease to wonder at these ravines and pre- 

 cipices : when viewing the country from one of the knife-edged 

 ridges, the point of support was so small, that the effect was 

 nearly the same as it must be from a balloon. In this descent 

 we had occasion to use the ropes only once, at the point where 

 we entered the main valley. We slept under the same ledge of 

 rock where we had dined the day before : the night was fine, 



