14 TAHITI. 



island, and to give a better idea of them I shall divide them into three 

 ^lasses. 



The first class comprises merchants, if they can be so called. The 

 sole object of these is to make money. I regret to say that, as far as 

 my observation went, this purpose is not accomplished without injury 

 to the welfare of the natives. This class endeavours to place both the 

 persons who compose it and the premises they occupy beyond the 

 reach of the local laws. 



The second class is composed of the children born upon the island 

 of missionary parents. Of these many seem to have forgotten utterly 

 the principles instilled into them in their infancy. 



The third class is much the most numerous, and those I include in 

 it appear destitute of all moral or religious principle. They stand out 

 openly and boldly in defiance of all law and decency. Among them 

 continual complaints are to be heard against the missionaries, 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 

 liquors ; 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 observance 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 respon- 

 sibility 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 missionaries, as 1 

 am told, possess much information in relation to the history and 



