PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
199 
society an anticipation which was fully realised by their unremitting CHAP, 
attention, especially on the part of the consul, whose house was the 
general resort of all the officers. March, 
Our arrival was immediately communicated, through the proper 
channel, to the queen regent, who lived about a mile from the an- 
chorage, and vve received an intimation of her intention of paying an 
early visit to the ship. 
The arrival of a ship of war at Otaheite is still an event of much 
interest, and brings a number of the inhabitants from the districts 
adjoining the port, some in canoes, others on foot. The little hamlet 
opposite the ship was almost daily crowded with strangers, and a vast 
number of canoes skimmed the smooth surface of the harbour, or rather 
the narrow channel of water which is tied to the shores of this luxu- 
I’lant island by reefs of living coral. A remarkable exception to this 
Scene of bustle occurred on the day of our arrival, which, although 
Saturday, according to our mode of reckoning, was here observed 
the Sabbath, in consequence of the missionaries having proceeded 
I’ound by the Cape of Good Hope, and having thereby gained a day 
^pon us. Next morning, however, a busy scene ensued. Canoes 
^aden with fruit, vegetables, and articles of curiosity, thronged as 
closely round the ship as their slender outriggers would allow, while 
Such of the inhabitants as wanted these means of approaching us 
awaited their harvest on the shore. 
We soon found that the frequent intercourse of Europeans with 
^he islanders had effected an alteration in the nature of the currency, 
^Hd that those tinselled ornaments with wdiich we had provided ourselves 
''^cre now objects of desire only as presents ; the more substantial 
^I’ticles of clothing and hard dollars being required for the purposes of 
market, except, perhaps, where a ring or a Jew’s harp happened for 
moment to attract the attention of some capricious individual. 
However gratified we might be to observe this advance towards civiliza- 
tion, we experienced considerable inconvenience from its effects ; for 
^11 leaving the coast of Chili, very few of us had provided dollars, under 
^11 impression that they would not be necessary ; and those which we 
^md Were principally of the republican coinage, and as useless in the 
