308 PASTORAL DUTIES OF THE PADRES. [1845. 



formed by persons brought up in the convents of Batan 

 and duly deputed by the superior authority to act here ; 

 but their province did not exceed the repetition of 

 prayers, consequently the duties of our friends, regis- 

 tering, baptizing, catechizing, and marrying, throughout 

 five Pueblos, formed no light occupation. 



The marriage arrangements seemed even to puzzle 

 the Padres ; there were numerous candidates awaiting 

 their arrival, some to be married according to the 

 rites of the church; some who had not thought this 

 ceremony of sufficient importance to delay their union, 

 but now wished to come under the wing of the church ; 

 others, whom the acting ministers, or Captains of the 

 Pueblos, suggested as likely to follow their own inclina- 

 tions after the departure of the Padres, were persuaded 

 to be united, in anticipation, in order to secure them under 

 church discipline. The assemblage of these parties and 

 the pairing off, sometimes a husband missing, at others 

 the wife, boys of sixteen to women of twenty-six, and 

 vice versa, with many other irregularities, or inequalities, 

 apparent to civilized life, rendered the scene ludicrous in 

 the extreme, and I am fully satisfied that three-fourths of 

 the parties concerned, understood as little of the ceremony 

 as the natives of the South Seas before the visits of the 

 missionaries. 



During our detention on this island, we visited the 

 Pueblos San Rafael, Santa Rosa, and Santa Lusia. The 

 two highest elevations on the islands are Santa Rosa, 

 on the north, and Mount Riposet, on the south, the latter 

 of which became my principal position, in sight of Batan 

 and Dequey. The houses are constructed similar to 



