412 TAHITI, {clAP. XVIII. 
join. Immediately a law was passed, that no spirits should be 
allowed to be introduced into the island, and that he who sold 
and he who bought the forbidden article should be punished by 
a fine. With remarkable justice, a 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 
imported ; 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 extensive 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 inhabit- 
ing 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 pre- 
cipices: when viewing the country from one of the knife-edged 
ridges, the point of support 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 eutered the main valley. We slept under the same ledge of 
rock where we had dined the day before: the night was fine, 
