CRUEL NEGLECT OF THE SICK. 317 
they were too intent on the play, to pay any 
attention to what we said. The visiters or atten¬ 
dants of the chief sat in groups in different parts 
of the house, some carelessly singing, others en¬ 
gaged in earnest conversation. 
We could not forbear contrasting the scene here 
presented, with a domestic circle in civilized and 
Christian society, under similar circumstances, 
where all the alleviations which the tenderest 
sympathy could impart, would be promptly ten¬ 
dered to the suffering individuals. But here, 
alas! ignorance, cruel idolatry, and familiarity 
with vice, appeared to have destroyed natural 
affection, and all the tender sympathies of hu¬ 
manity, in their bosoms. The wife beheld un¬ 
moved the sufferings of her husband, and the 
amusement of the mother was undisturbed by the 
painful crying of her languishing child. 
The state of domestic society in Tahiti and the 
neighbouring islands, only a few years ago, was 
even more affecting. Since the introduction of 
Christianity, so far from being unwilling to take 
care of their sick relatives and friends, a number 
of individuals, at several of the Missionary stations, 
annually devote a part of the produce of their 
labour, to erect houses, purchase medicine, and 
provide for the comfort of those who are sick and 
indigent. It is impossible for any people to be 
more attentive and kind than they now are. Many 
a time, the friend of some one who had been 
taken ill has called me up at midnight, to ask for 
medicine ; and often have I seen a wife or a sister 
supporting in her lap the head of a sick and, per¬ 
haps, dying husband or brother, night after night, 
yet refusing to leave them, though almost ex¬ 
hausted with fatigue. 
