i83S.] IMPRESSIONS OF THE TAHITIANS. 407 



who lived in the mountains, and whose retreats were 

 unknown to the more civilised inhabitants. 



November 20th. — In the morning we started early, and 

 reached Matavai at noon. On the road we met a large 

 party of noble athletic men going for wild bananas. I 

 found that the ship, on account of the difficulty in watering, 

 had moved to the harbour of Papawa, to which place I 

 immediately walked. This is a very pretty spot. The 

 cove is surrounded by reefs, and the water as smooth as in 

 a lake. The cultivated ground, with its beautiful produc- 

 tions, interspersed with cottages, comes close down to the 

 water's edge. 



From the varying accounts which I had read before 

 reaching these islands, I was very anxious to form, from 

 my own observation, a judgment of their moral state — 

 although such judgment would necessarily be very im- 

 perfect. First impressions at all times very much depend 

 on one's previously-acquired ideas. My notions were 

 drawn from Ellis's "Polynesian Researches" — an admir- 

 able and most interesting work, but naturally looking at 

 everything under a favourable point of view ; from Beechey's 

 *' Voyage" ; and from that of Kotzebue, which is strongly 

 adverse to the whole missionary system. He who compares 

 these three accounts will, I think, form a tolerably accurate 

 conception of the present state of Tahiti. One of my im- 

 pressions, which I took from the two last authorities, was 

 decidedly incorrect ; viz., that the Tahitians had become a 

 gloomy race, and lived in fear of the missionaries. Of the 

 latter feeling I saw no trace, unless, indeed, fear and 

 respect be confounded under one name. Instead of dis- 

 content being a common feeling, it would be difficult 

 in Europe to pick out of a crowd half so many 

 merry and happy faces. The prohibition of the flute 

 and dancing is inveighed against as wrong and foolish ; 



-the more than presbyterian manner of keeping the 

 Sabbath is looked at in a similar light. On these points 

 1 will not pretend to offer any opinion in opposition to 

 men who have resided as many years as I was days 

 on the island. 



On the whole, it appears to me that the morality and 

 religion of the inhabitants are highly creditable. There 

 are many who attack, even more acrimoniously than 

 Kotzebue, both the missionarios, their system, and the 

 effects produced by it. Such reasoncrs never compare the 



