natives of Eimeo over those of Tahiti. 



rp A TT T m T A ivn 

 1AHJ 1 AISJJ 



Von Schantz's chart of Taloo 

 Harbour. 



Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have the care of a school 

 for the children of missionaries and respectable 

 white parents : these are kept entirely separate 

 from the children of the natives ; the reason as- 

 signed for this exclusiveness is, that the danger of 

 the former receiving improper ideas is such as to 

 preclude their association with the latter. This 

 may be good policy as far as the white children 

 are concerned, although I doubt its having a good 

 effect on their minds if they are destined to spend 

 their lives ariiong the islands. The habit they 

 will thus acquire of looking upon the natives as 

 their inferiors, cannot fail to have an injurious 

 influence on both. The exclusiveness is carried 

 so far, that the children of whites by native women, 

 although they are united in the relation of husband 

 and wife, are not admitted into these schools, be- 

 cause, as they say, they do not wish their children 

 to be contaminated by intercourse with such a 

 mixture of blood. In pursuance of the same policy 

 they have, as it is said, procured the enactment of 

 a law prohibiting marriage between whites and the 

 natives. 



This, I must say, appeared to me the worst 

 feature I had seen in the missionary establishment. 

 It is placed here for the avowed purpose of re- 

 claiming the natives from idolatry, and the vices 

 which are its concomitants. In doing this, their 

 most successful efforts have been in the conversion 

 and moral improvement of the young ; yet they 

 bring up their own children to look down upon 

 them as being of an inferior order. In becoming 

 acquainted with this feature, I no longer wondered 

 at the character, which I was compelled by a re- 

 gard for truth to give, of the children of missionary 

 parents in Tahiti. 



The missionaries are now aware that their 

 proper plan is to devote their time and attention 

 to the young; and in pursuance of this object, Mr. 

 and Mrs. Howe have lately arrived from England, 

 for the purpose of establishing an infant school. 



It is to be regretted that the schools of manual 

 labour have, for what reason I could not learn, 

 been discontinued. Some of the natives who had 

 been instructed in them evinced a knowledge of 

 the trade of the carpenter, and furnished the ships 

 with very good boards sawn by themselves. 



The natives of Eimeo have an advantage over 

 those of Tahiti in being free from the influence of 

 evil example ; many of them are industrious, and 

 possess a proper feeling of the benefits they have 

 derived from the missionaries, of whom they 

 speak, whenever questioned, as friends. 



Three of our crew having become enamoured of 

 these islands, deserted while the Vincennes lay at 

 Eimeo. They left the ship about ten o'clock at 

 night, soon after which their absence was dis- 

 covered, and parties sent out in every direction 

 to intersect the roads and drive them to the hills. 

 This was effected the following morning, and a 

 large party of natives was employed to hunt them 

 up. This task they speedily performed, and at last 

 drove the deserters to one of the highest ridges, 

 in full view of the ship. Here the runaways ap- 

 peared at first disposed to make fight with stones; 

 but when they saw the odds against them, and 

 witnessed the alertness of the natives in leaping 

 from cliff to cliff, they thought it best to give 

 themselves up ; which they did to three natives, 

 naked except the maro, and armed respectively 



with a rusty sword, an old cutlass, and a piece of 

 iron hoop. These bound their hands, and led them 

 down to the shore, whence they were brought on 

 board, where the three natives received the re- 

 ward offered for their apprehension. The chase 

 and capture was an amusing sight to those who 

 watched the proceedings from the ship. 



Eimeo has, if possible, a more broken surface 

 than Tahiti, and is more thrown up into separate 

 peaks; its scenery is wild even in comparison with 

 that of Tahiti, and particularly upon the shores, 

 where the mountains rise precipitously from the 

 water, to the height of twenty-five hundred feet. 

 The reef which surrounds the island is similar to 

 that of Tahiti, and as we have seen to be the case 

 there, no soundings are found on the outside of it. 

 Black cellular lava abounds, and holes are found 

 in its shattered ridges, among which is the noted 

 one through which the god Oroo is said to have 

 thrown his spear. 



While we remained at Eimeo, I visited Papoa 

 or Cook's Harbour, which lies to the east of that 

 of Taloo. There is a marked resemblance between 

 the two ports, except that the shores of Papoa are 

 not quite as precipitous as those of Taloo, and the 

 entrance of the former not as practicable. 



Wood and water may be had at both harbours 

 in abundance, but in other respects the island is 

 not well adapted as a place for the supply of ships. 

 No more than a single ship would probably be able 

 to find refreshments at a time. It is, therefore, 

 seldom visited, and its surplus produce is carried 

 to Tahiti for sale. Notwithstanding, the articles 

 of traffic are quite as dear as at Tahiti. 



It has been seen that the alluvial plain at the 

 head of the harbour of Taloo is partly occupied by 

 plantations of sugar. The cane is of superior 

 quality, and the climate well adapted to its pro- 

 duction; the plant is indeed indigenous, and it is 

 well known that the variety of it found at Tahiti 

 has been introduced advantageously into the West 

 Indies. At Eimeo the crop is liable to injury 

 from the ground-rat, and their are difficulties at- 

 tending the management of the crop, which cause 

 the cultivators to speak despondingly. About one 

 hundred tons, however, are made annually. 



Coffee, cotton, and all other tropical plants, suc- 

 ceed well at Eimeo, and the quantity of tapa 

 manufactured is greater in proportion than at 

 Tahiti. 



I took the opportunity of my anchorage in the 

 harbour of Eimeo, to verify the chart made by 

 Captain Von Schantz, of the Russian ship America, 

 and found it accurate. I have added some sound- 

 ings, and laid down the topography of the shores, 

 and the outline of the reefs, more minutely than 

 he had attempted. 



On leaving Eimeo, I bade adieu to the Tahitian 

 islands; but I cannot close the portion of the nar- 

 rative which is devoted to them, without .again 

 expressing the pleasure I and all my officers derived 

 from our intercourse with the missionaries, and 

 our obligations for the kindness received from 

 them and other residents. Among those to whom 

 we are indebted, I cannot refrain from naming 

 George Pritchard, Esq., H. B. M. Consul, of whose 

 strenuous exertions to advance the welfare of the 

 people, and sustain the government in its efforts 

 to promote their best interests, I became by ob- 

 servation fully aware. It is to be regretted that 



