288 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



who has been selected from the common ranks for his good 

 looks. He is not burthened with the cares of sovereignty, and if 

 his wife were to die, would return immediately to the humble 

 walk from which he has been elevated. He is universally known 

 by the title of the " queen's husband." 



15^/». — This day, although with us, in our ship account, Satur- 

 day the 15th, is Sunday the 16th, at Tahiti. This is accounted 

 for by the fact of the early missionaries having made the passage 

 around the Cape of Good Hope instead of Cape Horn, and 

 making no allowance for easting, consequently gained nearly a 

 day in their reckoning. The mistake has never since been 

 corrected, and at the present time it would perhaps not be advisable 

 to do so. 



I attended, with most of the gentlemen of the place, the native 

 church, at 9 o'clock in the morning. Mr. Pritchard performed 

 the service, and I was pleased, not only with the order and re- 

 gularity of the exercises, but with the strict and decorous deport- 

 ment of the audience. The hymns were sung with much taste 

 and skill, and many of the voices, particularly of the females, were 

 sweet, and well trained. 



The chapel is a very neat and pretty piece of workmanship, 

 somewhat in the style of those at the Sandwich Islands, but more 

 tasteful and lighter. The roof, instead of a thatch of grass, is neatly 

 covered with the large leaves of a species of Pandanus, hand- 

 somely and ingeniously worked on light reeds, and the beams are 

 wrapped, for about one-fourth of their length, with alternate strips 

 of fine sinnit and mats of different colors, and adds very much to 

 the general appearance of the building. 



20th. — I observed to-day near the beach, in front of the village, 

 an old, dilapidated cottage, the trellised sides of which had fallen 

 to pieces from decay, and I was surprised to hear issue from it a 

 few notes of a low and plaintive song. Upon entering, I saw a 

 poor old man lying on a board elevated upon posts about four 



