Gente Hermosa. 
111 
worked mats of handsome design and fine 
texture, and in some of the dwellings of the 
better-off people may be seen good European- 
made furniture, such as chests of drawers, etc. 
Of late years the adoption of European clothing 
has become general with both sexes ; but the 
black suits, chimney-pot hats, and Sarah Gampian 
umbrellas of the early missionary days have 
very sensibly been discarded for clothing of 
a lighter texture, supplied by the resident trader 
at Manhiki, and the occasional trading vessels 
that visit the two islands. They are all 
Christians, and, so far as outward observances 
go, could be, and indeed are, held up by the 
missionaries as bright and shining examples of 
the beneficent results attending the introduction 
of Christianity. But, like too many such island 
communities, their Christianity is but a garment 
to be put off and on at their own convenience ; 
yet despite this they are on the whole an 
amiable, interesting, and well-mannered people. 
Contrasting their condition of peace and plenty 
with that of so many thousands of English 
labourers and artisans of the present day, one 
cannot but envy their happy and contented 
existence. 
