226 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, ments, and nothing in return to sweeten the cup of life. I cannot avoid 
repeating my conviction that had the advisers of Pomarree limited the 
April, penal code at first, and extended it as it became familiar to the people ; 
1826 . ^ 
had they restricted instead of suppressed the amusements of the 
people, and taught them such parts of the Christian religion as were 
intelligible to their simple understandings, and were most conducive 
to their moral improvement and domestic comfort, these zealous and 
really praiseworthy men would have made greater advances towards 
the attainment of their object. 
If in offering these remarks it should be thought I have been 
severe upon the failings of the people, or upon the conduct of the 
missionary gentlemen, I have only to say, that I have felt myself called 
upon to declare the truth, which I trust has been done without any 
invidious feeling to either ; indeed, I experienced nothing during my 
stay that could create such a feeling, but very much to the contrary, as 
both my officers and myself received every possible kindness from 
them. And if I have pourtrayed their errors more minutely than their 
virtues, it has been done with a view to show, that although the con- 
dition of the people is much improved, they are not yet blessed with 
that state of innocence and domestic comfort of which we have read. It 
would have been far more agreeable to have dwelt on the fair side of 
their character only, but that has already been done, and by following 
the same course I should only have increased the general miscon- 
ception. 
At the time of our arrival, the rainy season, which had been some- 
what protracted, was scarcely over. Its proper period is December, 
January, and February. So much wet weather in the height of sum- 
mer is always the occasion of fevers, and together with the abundance 
of vee-apples (spondias dulcis), which ripen about that period, produce 
dysentery and sickness among the poorer class of inhabitants, several of 
whom were labouring under these and other complaints during our 
stay. Miserable indeed was the condition of many of them. They 
retired from their usual abode and the society of their friends, and 
erected huts for themselves in the woods, in which they dwelt, until 
death terminated their sufferings. The missionaries and resident 
