PACIFIC AND BEERING’S STRAIT. 
215 
Was always very earnest in his relation of them, and never allowed CHAP, 
himself to join in our ridicule. Though he confessed that this little 
iRonitor had been dumb since the introduction of Christianity, yet it 
Would evidently have been as difficult to make him believe it never 
had spoken, as that the danger of which it w^arned him had never 
existed; and this feeling is, I believe, common to all his country- 
men. Nothing is more difficult than the removal of early impres- 
sions, particularly when connected with superstitions. I was one 
evening returning with him round the shore of the bay from Papiete, a 
favourite route, and was conversing on the superstitions of his country- 
men, when we came to a romantic retired spot crowned with tall cocoa- 
Rut trees, with a small glen behind it. Night was fast approaching, 
and the long branches of the palm, agitated by the wind, produced a 
mournful sound, in unison with the subject of our conversation. As 
We passed I observed Jim endeavouring to get on the outside, and 
latterly w^alking in the wash of the sea ; and found that he never liked 
to pass this spot after dark for fear of the spirits of his unfortunate 
Countrymen who were hanged there betw'een the cocoa-nut trees. 
The popular belief, before the introduction of our faith, was, that the 
spirit of the deceased visited the body for a certain time, and for this 
reason many of them would on no account pass this spot after dusk. 
A short time after our arrival some offenders were brought to trial, 
^nd as we were desirous of witnessing the proceedings of the court, it 
^as removed from its usual site, to the shade of some trees in our im- 
mediate vicinity. The court was ranged upon benches placed in suc- 
cessive rows under the trees, with the prisoners in front, under the 
charge of an officer with a di-awn sabre, and habited in a volunteer’s 
Jacket and a maro. The aava-rai of the district in which the crimes 
l^ad been committed took his place between the court and the prisoners, 
Tressed in a long straw mat, finely plaited, and edged with fringe, with 
^ slit cut in it for the head to pass through ; a white oakum wig, which 
m imitation of the gentlemen of our courts of law, flowed in long curls 
R'^er his shoulders, and a tall cap surmounting it, curiously ornamented 
''’ith red feathers, and with variously coloured tresses of human hair, 
appearance without shoes, stockings, or trousers, the strange attire 
