TAHITI. 9 



were assembled at Point Venus, during our stay. They are, however, 

 inveterate beggars. 



At the invitation of Mr. Pritchard, I visited the school under his 

 direction at Papieti. This gentleman was, a few years since, a 

 missionary, but now holds the station of Her Britannic Majesty's 

 Consul. He has not, however, abandoned all his missionary duties. 

 We were also invited to visit the school at Matavai Bay, under the 

 direction of the Rev. Mr. Wilson. There was so much similarity in 

 the two schools, that I shall content myself with a description of the 

 former, and a circumstance or two that occurred at the latter. 



The school at Papieti is held in the church, a large frame building, 

 much like a New England meeting-house. It has numerous windows, 

 a large gallery, and pews capable of containing a great number of 

 people. All who were present were well dressed, and the assemblage, 

 except from the colour of their skins, could have been, with difficulty, 

 distinguished from a Sunday school in the United States. 



The exercises were opened with prayer. The children then sang the 

 ABC song, and went through the a-b ab, at the word of command 

 from Mr. Pritchard. To this succeeded an examination of the larger 

 children, and an exhibition of some of their performances. The number 

 of scholars was from three hundred and fifty to four hundred, between 

 eight and sixteen years of age. A large proportion of them read, sang, 

 and wrote on a slate, manifesting a fair proficiency in each, and 

 answered intelligently the questions that were put to them. 



To test the character of the instruction given in this school, I felt 

 desirous of putting some questions on subjects foreign to the ordinary 

 routine, and particularly in relation to natural phenomena. For this 

 purpose I called the attention of the scholars to the eclipse of the sun 

 which had happened a few days before. This was received with a 

 variety of expression of countenance by different scholars, but among 

 them I could only remark stupid wonder, indifference, or listlessness 

 which showed too clearly that no attempt had been made to awaken 

 their attention to such subjects. 



When the examination was concluded, I made a trifling present to 

 the native teachers in the name of the American government, and 

 desired Mr. Pritchard to express the satisfaction it had given myself 

 and officers to witness the exhibition of a progress, which in the elemen- 

 tary branches of education had exceeded our expectations ; and to state 

 that I was assured it would be gratifying to our country to hear 

 of their improvement. I concluded by expressing my hope that 

 they would persevere in their attention to the missionaries, who 



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