POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
541 
them, although they were to travel fifteen thousand miles, 
written on very small scraps of paper, and that often of 
a very inferior kind: part of the small space for writing 
being occupied by apologies for the small paper, and 
urgent requests, that if I do not return soon, I will send 
them some paper; and that if I return, I will take them a 
supply. 
The art of writing is of the greatest service to the 
people in their commercial, civil, and domestic transac¬ 
tions, as well as in the pursuit of knowledge. They are 
not so far advanced in civilization as to have a regular 
post 3 but a native seldom makes a journey across the 
island, and scarcely a canoe passes from one island to 
another, without conveying a number of letters. Writ¬ 
ing is an art perfectly congenial with the habits of the 
people, and hence they have acquired it with uncommon 
facility; not only have the children readily learned, 
but many adults, who never took pen or pencil in 
their hands until they were thirty or even forty years 
of age, have by patient perseverance learned, in the space 
of twelvemonths or two years, to write a fair and legible 
hand. Their comparatively small alphabet, and the 
simple structure of their language, has probably been 
advantageous; their letters are bold and well formed, 
and their ideas are always expressed with perspicuity, 
precision, and remarkable simplicity.'^ 
The South Sea Academy, in which the young king was 
a pupil, is a most important institution, in connexion 
* Writing apparatus and materials of every kind are in great demand 
among them; most of the letters I have received contain a request that, 
if possible, I will send them out a writing-desk, or an inkstand, pen¬ 
knife, pens, a blank paper book, &c. The youthful widow of Taaroarii 
has begged me to bring her a writing-desk. 
