TAHITI. 15 



the government, and the people. On being asked to state the ground 

 of their complaints, most of them fail in presenting any other charges 

 than that the missionaries are endeavouring to make the natives too 

 good ; that they deprive them of their innocent luxury of intoxicating 

 liqtiors ; that they interdict promiscuous intercourse, and have ruined 

 the trade of the island by preventing the women from going on board 

 ship ; that they have interfered with their amusements by abolishing 

 lascivious dances and songs, and requiring from them instead, 

 prayers and hymns; that they have introduced too strict an ob- 

 servance of a Sabbath, translated the Scriptures, and taught the 

 natives to read them. Others argue seriously, that this mild and 

 amiable people had no need of instruction in divine revelation ; that 

 they would have been much happier had they been left to follow their 

 own inclinations; and that they have been rendered miserable by 

 being taught their responsibility as accountable beings. 



The missionaries, however, receive countenance and support from 

 a more respectable portion of the foreign residents. These, although 

 they do not approve of the whole of the course the missionaries have 

 pursued, are united in upholding the moral and religious principles 

 which they endeavour to inculcate. 



Although much has been done for the improvement of the natives, 

 still it appears evident that much more might have been done if the 

 missionaries had not confined themselves so exclusively to teaching 

 from the Scriptures. The natives, by all accounts are extremely 

 fond of story-telling, and marvellous tales of their ancestors and 

 ancient gods, are even now a source of amusement. The mis- 

 sionaries, as I am told, possess much information in relation to the 

 history and mythology of the island, embodied in the superstitious 

 tales still occasionally current among its inhabitants. It is to be 

 hoped that they will preserve a record of these, before they are 

 obliterated by their exertions to destroy the ancient superstition. 

 But they would have succeeded sooner in eradicating the practice of 

 reciting these legends, had they provided a substitute in works of 

 fiction, inculcating moral and religious lessons, or teaching useful 

 knowledge. So also, while it was indispensable to put down those 

 amusements which were the means or incentives to debauchery, this 

 measure ought to have been accompanied by the introduction of 

 innocent modes of recreation. For want of the first resource, much 

 time is now spent in unmeaning gossip, and the necessity for the 

 other is often shown in a listless idleness. 



