404 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
scape_, and the truly picturesque appearance of the 
island of Tahiti^ fourteen or eighteen miles distant^ the 
scene has been enlivened by the light and nautilus-like 
sail of the buoyant canoe^ first seen in the distant hori¬ 
zon as a small white speck, sometimes scarcely distin¬ 
guishable from the crest of the waters, at others bril¬ 
liantly reflecting the last rays of the retiring sun, and ap¬ 
pearing in bold and beautiful relief before 
“ The impassioned splendour of those clouds 
That wait upon the sun at his departure.” 
The effect of this magnificent scene has often 
been heightened by the impression that the voyagers, 
whose approaching bark became every moment more 
conspicuous among the surrounding objects, were not 
coming in search of pearls or gems, but the more 
valuable treasure contained in the sacred Scriptures, 
deemed by them more precious than gold, yea, 
than much fine gold.^^ One evening, about sunset, a 
canoe from Tahiti with five men arrived on this errand. 
They landed on the beach, lowered their sail, and, 
drawing their canoes on the sand, hastened to my native 
dwelling. I met them at the door, and asked them 
their errand. Luka, or Te parau na Luka, ^^Luke, 
or. The word of Luke,'' was the simultaneous reply, 
accompanied with the exhibition of the bamboo-canes 
filled with cocoa-nut oil which they held up in their 
hands, and had brought as payment for the copies re¬ 
quired. I told them I had none ready that night, but 
that if they would come on the morrow, I would give 
them as many as they needed 3 recommending them, in 
the mean time, to go and lodge with some friend in the 
village. Twilight in the tropics is always short, it soon 
