574 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
of clothings native or foreign, for themselves and the 
other members of the family, is now considered the 
proper department of the females. They occasionally 
accompany their husbands and elder children to work in 
the plantation or garden, at particular seasons of the 
year; but it is a matter of choice, and not from fear of 
cruel treatment, as formerly. They go to assist their 
husbands in planting or gathering in the crops, instead 
of undertaking alone these labours, while the men were 
idling away the noon-day hours in heedless slumbers, or 
spending them in songs or other amusements. 
The establishment of schools has in a great degree 
overcome their love of wandering, and habituated them 
to regularity and perseverance in their occupations, 
although at first found irksome and difficult. Desire of 
mental improvement, general acquaintance with writing, 
and fondness for epistolary correspondence, furnish new 
and agreeable occupation for their leisure hours. The 
introduction of needlework, the universal desire for 
European clothing, together with the preservation of 
these articles of dress, having increased their domestic 
duties, occupies a great portion of their time. 
With the close of the year 1822, we terminated our 
regular labours in the South Sea Islands; and on the 31st 
of December, soon after the marriage of Pomare and 
Aimata, accompanied by two native teachers, Taua and 
his family, and Taamotu, a female who had been a 
member of the church, a teacher in the school, and an 
affectionate and valuable companion and assistant to Mrs. 
Ellis during my voyage to Huahine, we embarked in the 
Active, and reached Oahu on the 5th of the following 
February. The result of my observations, and the detail 
of a part of my labours, prosecuted in affection and har- 
