POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
89 
glass, but of far more common materials, and rude sim¬ 
plicity of structure. The frame was of light tough wood, 
and the lamps, instead of being coloured and transparent, 
were opaque cocoa-nut shells. They were, however, the 
only inventions of the kind the natives had ever seen; 
and on the night when the chapel was first illuminated 
by their aid, as they came in one after another, 
and saw the glare of such a number of lights suspended 
from the roof in a manner that they could not at first 
understand, they involuntarily stopped to gaze as they 
entered the door, and few proceeded to their seats with¬ 
out an exclamation of admiration or surprise. Their 
astonishment was probably greater than would be expe¬ 
rienced by an English peasant from a retired village, on 
beholding, for the first time, a spacious public building 
splendidly lighted up with gas. 
Although we were pleased with the elfect produced on 
the minds of the natives, and a thousand delightful asso¬ 
ciations reviving in our bosoms the first time we mingled 
with a crowded evening congregation, we did not recom¬ 
mend our people to follow the example their ingenious 
neighbours had set them. It appeared more desirable, in 
the partially organized state of society then prevailing 
in the islands, to conclude all our public meetings by 
daylight, rather than call the people from home after 
sunset. 
II. 
N 
