210 
VOYAGE TO THE 
the prettiest white-washed cottages imaginable, the dwellings 
of the missionaries, who are, as it appears, the chief per¬ 
sonages on the Island. 
The inside of their habitations corresponded with their 
exterior neatness. The floors were boarded: there were a 
sofa and some chairs of native workmanship: windows, with 
Venetian shutters, rendered the apartments cool and agree¬ 
able. The rooms were divided from each other by screens 
of tapa ; in one there was a bed of white tapa, and the floor 
was covered with coloured varnished tapa resembling oil¬ 
cloth. We were exceedingly struck with the appearance of 
elegance and cleanliness of all around us, as well as with 
the modest and decorous behaviour of the people, especially 
the women ; all of which formed a strong contrast with the 
habits of the common people of the Sandwich Islands : but 
this is a small community, easily inspected by its teachers, 
and having, as yet, had no intercourse from without, to dis¬ 
turb the effects of their admonitions and example. 
After partaking of the refreshment offered us by our 
hostess, which consisted of baked pig, bread-fruit, and yams, 
we accompanied the missionaries to their church. It stands 
on a rising ground, about four hundred yards from the cot¬ 
tages. A fence, composed of the trunks of cocoa-nut trees, 
surrounds the area in which it stands. Its form is oval, 
