MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 283 
mence his operations, but to proceed so as to con¬ 
vince the king and chiefs what might be done, and 
also to improve the natives in the art of cultivating 
cane, instruct them in the process of boiling, &c. 
and leave them capable of carrying it on by them¬ 
selves. He reached Tahiti in August, 1818, and 
shortly afterwards removed to Eimeo, where he 
began to erect the machinery, and enclosed a con¬ 
siderable tract of ground in the fertile and extensive 
valley at the head of the beautiful bay of Opunohu, 
usually called Taloo Harbour. Circumstances 
detained the king at Tahiti for many months after 
Mr. Gyles’s arrival in Eimeo, and retarded very 
materially the progress of the undertaking. Sugar¬ 
cane was, however, procured from the gardens of 
the adjacent districts, and sugar made in the pre¬ 
sence of the natives, who were delighted on dis¬ 
covering that an article, so highly esteemed, could 
be made on their own shores, from the spontaneous 
product of their soil. 
But the advantageous and expensive arrange¬ 
ments of the Directors, for the purpose of intro¬ 
ducing these important branches of commerce and 
productive labour, although not entirely frustrated, 
were in the first instance rendered to a great degree 
unavailing, by the unfounded reports of unprin¬ 
cipled and interested individuals, who beheld the 
advancement of the people in knowledge and 
civilization with any other feelings than those of 
satisfaction. 
Early in the year 1819, the captain of a vessel, 
the Indus, whom purposes of commerce led to 
Tahiti, informed the king that Mr. Gyles’s errand 
to Tahiti was merely experimental; and that, should 
the attempt to manufacture sugar succeed, indi¬ 
viduals from distant countries, possessing influence 
