XVIII 
TEMPERANCE OF THE NATIVES 
439 
certain period was allowed for stock in hand to be sold, before 
the law came into effect. But when it did, a general search 
was made, in which even the houses of the missionaries were 
not exempted, and all the ava (as the natives call all ardent 
spirits) was poured on the ground. When one reflects on the 
effect of intemperance on the aborigines of the two Americas, 
I think it will be acknowledged that every well-wisher of Tahiti 
owes no common debt of gratitude to the missionaries. As 
long as the little island of St. Helena remained under the 
government of the East India Company, spirits, owing to the 
great injury they had produced, were not allowed to be im¬ 
ported ; but wine was supplied from the Cape of Good Hope. 
It is rather a striking, and not very gratifying fact, that in the 
same year that spirits were allowed to be sold in St. Helena, 
their use was banished from Tahiti by the free will of the 
people. 
After breakfast we proceeded on our journey. As my 
object was merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we 
returned by another track, which descended into the main 
valley lower down. For some distance we wound, by a most 
intricate path, along the side of the mountain which formed the 
valley. In the less precipitous parts we passed through ex¬ 
tensive groves of the wild banana. The Tahitians, with their 
naked, tattooed bodies, their heads ornamented with flowers, 
and seen in the dark shade of these groves, would have formed 
a fine picture of man inhabiting some primeval land. In our 
descent we followed the line of ridges ; these were exceedingly 
narrow, and for considerable lengths steep as a ladder ; but all 
clothed with vegetation. The extreme care necessary in poising 
each step rendered the walk fatiguing. I did not cease to 
wonder at these ravines and precipices : when viewing the 
country from one of the knife-edged ridges, the point of sup¬ 
port was so small that the effect was nearly the same as it must 
be from a balloon. In this descent we had occasion to use the 
ropes only once, at the point where we entered the main valley. 
We slept under the same ledge of rock where we had dined 
the day before : the night was fine, but from the depth and 
narrowness of the gorge profoundly dark. 
Before actually seeing this country, I found it difficult to 
understand two facts mentioned by Ellis ; namely, that after 
