TAHITI AND EIMEO. 57 



ment they were all extremely civil, and said they only wished to look 

 at us, although some were disposed to feel us. 



Mr. Simpson led the way to his house, passing by a thick and well- 

 built stone wall, the only one which I had seen used as an enclosure 

 in these islands ; on my inquiring if it was the work of native labour, 

 I was informed that it had been erected by an Irishman, who is now 

 the overseer of Mr. Simpson's sugar plantation. This wall encloses a 

 large lawn, with a number of fine bread-fruit trees ; on each side of 

 the walk was a row of low acacias, which were at the time in 

 full bloom, with flowers of many colours, — yellow, orange, red, and 

 variegated ; at the end of the walk was a low thatched white 

 cottage. 



Mr. and Mrs. Simpson have the care of a school for the children 

 of missionaries and respectable white parents : these are kept entirely 

 separate from the children of the natives ; the reason assigned for this 

 exclusiveness is, that the danger of the former receiving improper 

 ideas is such as to preclude their association with the latter. This 

 may be good policy as far as the white children are concerned, 

 although I doubt its having a good effect on their minds if they are 

 destined to spend their lives among the islands. The habit they will 

 thus acquire of looking upon the natives as their inferiors, cannot fail 

 to have an injurious influence on both. The exclusiveness is carried 

 so far, that the children of whites by native women, although they are 

 united in the relation of husband and wife, are not admitted into these 

 schools, because, as they say, they do not wish their children to be 

 contaminated by intercourse with such a mixture of blood. In pur- 

 suance of the same policy they have, as it is said, procured the 

 enactment of a law prohibiting marriage between whites and the 

 natives. 



This, I must say, appeared to me the worst feature I had seen in the 

 missionary establishment. It is placed here for the avowed purpose 

 of reclaiming the natives from idolatry, and the vices which are its 

 concomitants. In doing this, their most successful efforts have been 

 in the conversion and moral improvement of the young ; yet they bring 

 up their own children to look down upon them as beings of an inferior 

 order. In becoming acquainted with this feature, I no longer wondered 

 at the character, which I was compelled by a regard for truth to give, 

 of the children of missionary parents in Tahiti. 



The missionaries are now aware that their proper plan is to devote 

 their time and attention to the young ; and in pursuance of this object, 

 Mr. and Mrs. Howe have lately arrived from England, for the purpose 

 of establishing an infant school. 



vol. 11. 8 



