TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES. 189 



November l^tli. — At daylight my friends, after 

 their morning prayer, prepared an excellent break- 

 fast 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 suppose 

 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 nutriment. Unwit- 

 tingly, I was the means of my companions break- 

 ing, as I afterwards learned, one of their own laws 

 and resolutions : 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 the use 

 of the ava was prevented, drunkenness from the 

 introduction of spirits became 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 Teinperance Society. From good 

 sense or shame, all the chiefs and the queen were 

 at last persuaded to join. Immediately a law was 

 passed that no spirits should be allowed to be in- 

 troduced 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 inteinperance 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 lonsr as the 



