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INTERVIEW WITH CHURCH AND CONGREGATION.

ducted to the court-yard to view the presents which he had provided for us. These consisted of fourteen fine hogs, and five large heaps of bananas, mountain plantains, taro, breadfruit, cocoa-nuts, &c., placed on frames, like hand-barrows, each as heavily loaded as two men could carry. We return

ed to acknowledge the royal bounty, manifested by these gifts, as well as those we had received in Tahiti, on Friday last, after which we took our leave, highly gratified with the circumstances of this audience.

Pomare, so far as we could judge, for we only saw him seated, has more of personal dignity than could be expected from one who had been so lately a rude and fierce barbarian. In stature, we are told, he reaches six feet two inches, with limbs and frame athletic in proportion. His countenance is far superior in comeliness, as well as in expression, to the engraved portrait which has been published in England, though that presents a general likeness. The visage is long, the features bold, the lips thick, and the nose broad-set, according to the prevailing traits of the Tahitians; but his complexion is swarthier than ordinary among his countrymen. He wears his beard rather long on the upper lip, reserving also a small tuft between the lower lip and the chin. His hair is worn short round the front and sides of the head, with one long lock behind, which was rolled up and fastened at the crown. His hands are considerably tatooed, particularly round the joints of the fingers. His manner appeared courteous and affable, though grave, and he was occasionally languid from ill health; but, as we are informed, he is never loquacious. Every one speaks of him as a man of talents, judgment and foresight; as well as possessed of far more general knowledge than could be expected, considering the few and imperfect means he has enjoyed of gaining instruction. His subjects look up to him as an oracle, and behave, in his presence, with profound veneration. When we remember how lately he was sole and despotic arbiter of life and property throughout these islands, much credit is due to him for having exercised his authority with comparative mildness and equity; those instances of rapacity and oppression, which occasionally occur, being in fact exceptions from the acknowledged forbearance and lenity of his usual government.

In the after part of the day, we proceeded to the place of worship, to meet the church and congregation of believers

SOCIAL MEETINGS FOR RELIGIOUS IMPROVEMENT.

77

here, according to appointment. These were all assembled to meet us in their best apparel; and with looks of the most animated satisfaction, they welcomed us as we entered, and made our countenances to reflect corresponding delight, even as face answereth to face in water. Mr. Tyerman opened the meeting with prayer. We were then conducted to that part of the chapel where the deacons and church-members, a hundred and three in number, were seated. To these we gave the right hand of fellowship, in the name of the missionary society, and all those Christian friends in England whom we represented on this occasion. We afterwards addressed the audience, and congratulated them on what God had done for them, since it had pleased him to open the eyes, the ears and the understandings of the population of these beautiful and sequestered isles (long under the dominion of the prince of darkness), to see and hear and know the things that belonged to their peace. After expatiating at some length on the propagation of the gospel, in other parts of the world, by missionary, Bible, tract and school societies,-the word preached and taught being every where accompanied by signs following,-a hymn was sung, and Mr. Bennet closed the meeting with prayer. Mr. Nott was our interpreter. We then shook hands with all the baptized and candidates for baptism. Never had we witnessed more Christian affection and unity of spirit. The fruits of the gospel are the same every where,-love, joy and peace, social as well as personal.

When we retired from this service to a neighboring house, to partake of some refreshments, the kindness of the congregation was shewn to us, by the usual tokens,- —a present of two hogs, a quantity of such fruits as were in season, and some roots of taro of prodigious bulk. In the evening, there was a meeting of a considerable number of females, among whom were the queen and her sister, at Mr. Henry's house, for the purpose of praying, reading and conversing on religious topics. Similar means of grace are enjoyed weekly, and conduce much to the mental and spiritual improvement of those, who, under the despotism of idolatry, were the most degraded of slaves. 7*

Project of a Cotton-Mill-Shells, &c.-Magnificent Natural Panorama -Night-scene-Bans of Marriage-Palma Christi and other PlantsNative Martyrs-Great Marae-Arabu, Chief of Eimeo-Cowries, &c.-Roman Catholic Missionary-Trials of the first Preachers of the Gospel here-Roguery of the Islanders formerly-their present Character contrasted-Idolatrous Priests-Second Interview with Pomare-Tatooing-Mosquitoes-Return to Tahiti--HousekeepingNative Manners--Barter Trade.

Oct. 16. THIS morning, accompanied by the missionaries, we went up the valley, to examine a situation which had been pointed out, as eligible for a mill of any kind, but especially for cotton works, such as were proposed to be constructed by Mr. Armitage. The supply of water by a plentiful stream, the pleasantness, healthfulness and fertility of the situation, with its proximity to the residences of the missionaries, seemed to render this spot, in every way, suited for such an establishment. The vast amphitheatrical bosom of the mountains might graze thousands of cattle; and it was with pleasure that we saw several cows and a bull eating the luxuriant herbage on their slopes. This small herd belongs to Mr. Henry, and supplies him abundantly with milk and butter. Pomare has signified his approbation of this plan of a cottonfactory, "if the man can carry it into effect." These words repeated several times, intimate not only some doubt on the part of the king of success, but some prejudice against the undertaking, from the failure of Mr. Gyles's previous experi

ment.

In the afternoon we ascended the fine harbor, and rivermouth, in two canoes. On the coral rocks and the beach, as we proceeded, we collected the following shells-the areho, a small brown turbinate, a quarter of an inch long, found adhering to a leaf in the water;—a small muscle, of delicate taste, called by the natives pice;-tona, a large cockle; the chi, another bivalve of the same species, but larger even than the former;-also the pui, a brown worm, marked with black rings, an inch apart; some of these worms were from one to one and a half and two feet in length; they lay at the bottom of the shoals, and when taken out seemed to be nothing more than long slender bladders of

water.

The piao, or brown butterfly, was flying in great

MAGNIFICENT NATURAL PANORAMA.

79

numbers around. We met a man who had caught a singular and splendid fish. It resembled a flounder in shape, being twelve inches by six in length and breadth. The prevailing color was a silvery gray, the tail and side fins of the richest gold, the delicate shades of which were radiated beyond the junctures of these with the body. The natives call this fish paraha, and consider it excellent food. We observ

ed, likewise, a small species of sprat, called ona, the body of which is brown, the fins black. The maau toria, a small bird, like a plover, was frequently seen sitting on the rocks.

This is one of the finest harbors in the world for depth, safety, and convenience of obtaining fresh water and wood. It is nearly three miles in length by half a mile in width. The deep water continues at the sides to the very shore, so that a ship may approach close, and be moored fast to a tree with perfect security. The entrance is through the opening of a reef, which runs across the mouth, and protects it from heavy seas. When we had advanced about two miles towards the head of this bay, we came to a bar of sand, brought down by the river. Over this, the natives dragged the canoes, and then we were paddled a mile up the stream, on either bank of which the most luxuriant tropical vegetation expanded, in the majestic ito, chestnut, vi-apple, and cocoanut trees; with innumerable puraus, of every size and form; shrubs and plants, especially the cryptogamous ones, flourishing in richest abundance, and often of prodigious magnitude.

We landed near the site of the sugar-mills, formerly erected by Mr. Gyles, now in ruins; the valuable parts of the machinery having been removed by Mr. Bicknell, junior, and Pomare, with the view, it is said, of re-commencing the works at Tahiti. The sugar scheme failed here, in consequence of the king's jealousy, excited by false alarms insinuated into his mind, by foreigners, that slavery and the culture of the cane were necessarily associated; as though the Europeans would presently come and possess themselves of the islands, when they found that sugar was produced in them. From the site of the dilapidated mills, we ascended Mount Gyles (so called from the late settler here), which stands nearly in the midst of a vast circumvallation of towering eminences, that meet and astonish the eye at every

turn.

The mountains, with surpassing grandeur, and not less

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MAGNIFICENT NATURAL PANORAMA.

beauty of contour and coloring, when seen at due distance, do indeed form corresponding walls, to what may be styled an immense rotunda, roofed with a blue expanse of firmament, overhanging the pinnacles of the everlasting hills. Here, were such an occasion to arrive, a fit theatre might be found for the assembled population of an empire, to receive a message from heaven, by the voice of the archangel, and the trump of God, whose sound should go forth, and be heard throughout the whole area and circumference, crowded with gazing, listening, or adoring multitudes. The proportions of this temple of earth and sky (for such it appeared) were so harmonious and exact, that its immensity was lost, at first sight, for want of a contrast whereby to measure its parts. But when we looked back upon the harbor of Taloo, and saw the steep declivities, by which we had ascended from the beach, diminished like peaked points beneath our feet, we were then made almost tremblingly sensible of the magnitude of the mountains that here engirdled our horizon, and the breadth of the interjacent valley, in the middle of which we stood, and felt how little is man, when he perceives but a glimpse of the greater works of God, though they are unconscious matter, and he a living, intellectual soul. Yet is there an exaltation (akin to the immortality that stirs within him), even in that humbling sense of littleness; for it is not his inferiority to mounds of earth, and tracts of water, which he feels, but his utter nothingness before Him who made all these, and into whose presence-chamber he seems to be brought, when scenes, like that which we were contemplating, overpower the nerves, and almost disembody the spirit by the entrancement which they induce. Language can convey no distinct idea of such a panorama as here stretched around us. The ground, clothed with exuberant vegetation, rises gradually from the coast towards this interior district, where the whole surface bursts, as it were, into abrupt and precipitous elevations, the crests of which are naked rocks, of stupendous bulk, and strangest forms. Some seem to stand on very narrow bases, with broad and beetling fronts; one; facing the harbor, resembles a huge tower, surmounted by a sharp spire; in another place, a mass of black stone, apart from the adjacent range (which is brown basalt), bears a rude likeness to the head and shoulders of a man. The valleys intersecting these gigantic heights, are as lovely and fertile as the eye can desire to look upon, when, giddy and