XVIII TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES 439 



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 intemperance 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 

 long as the little island of St. Helena remained under the 

 government of the East India Company, spirits, owing to the 

 great injury they had produced, were not allowed to be im- 

 ported ; but wine was supplied from the Cape of Good Hope. 

 It is rather a striking, and not very gratifying fact, that in the 

 same year that spirits were allowed to be sold in St. Helena, 

 their use was banished from Tahiti by the free will of the 

 people. 



After breakfast we proceeded on our journey. As my 

 object was merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we 

 returned by another track, which descended into the main 

 valley lower down. For some distance we wound, by a most 

 intricate path, along the side of the mountain which formed the 

 valley. In the less precipitous parts we passed through ex- 

 tensive groves of the wild banana. The Tahitians, with their 

 naked, tattooed bodies, their heads ornamented with flowers, 

 and seen in the dark shade of these groves, would have formed 

 a fine picture of man inhabiting some primeval land. In our 

 descent we followed the line of ridges ; these were exceedingly 

 narrow, and for considerable lengths steep as a ladder ; but all 

 clothed with vegetation. The extreme care necessary in poising 

 each step rendered the walk fatiguing. I did not cease to 

 wonder at these ravines and precipices : when viewing the 

 country from one of the knife-edged ridges, the point of sup- 

 port was so small that the effect was nearly the same as it must 

 be from a balloon. In this descent we had occasion to use the 

 ropes only once, at the point where we entered the main valley. 

 We slept under the same ledge of rock where we had dined 

 the day before : the night was fine, but from the depth and 

 narrowness of the gorge profoundly dark. 



Before actually seeing this country, I found it difficult to 

 understand two facts mentioned by Ellis ; namely, that after 



