CHAPTER V.

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--Housekeeping-. Native 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 observed, 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

bewildered with gazing on the terrible sublimities above, it seeks repose in the green dells and shady solitudes below.

In the evening, while we slowly returned across the harbor, the glimmering of the stars, as they multiplied over head, gave to the faded realities of day-light the unsubstantial forms of shadows; woods, rocks and mountains being alike dark shapes, and the sea itself an invisible mirror of the firmament, in which beneath, as above, the planets Jupiter, from the east, and Venus, from the west, contended with each other in brilliancy and beauty.

It added much to our enjoyment on this excursion, to be in company with the only two remaining missionaries, Mr. Nott and Mr. Henry, who first came out, in the ship Duff, with captain Wilson; and while on our return, at night-fall, we sang, in our boat, upon the water, "God moves in a mysterious way—his wonders to perform," &c., these fathers of the Polynesian church acknowledged that He had often thus dealt with them, and having found Him ever faithful, they had learned to trust in Him, under the darkest dispensations of Providence.

Oct. 17. Mr. Nott preached this afternoon to a congregation of about three hundred persons. At the close of the service, the bans of marriage were published between a young man and woman, who, having formed a strong attachment, desired to be united. A relative of the female, however, disapproving of the match, stood up, and forbade it. This brought on a short altercation between the parties. Some friends of the young man had objected in the first instance, but having been induced afterwards to consent, the young woman's friends determined to retaliate, and were not now to be appeased. The disappointed couple, therefore, in great affliction, were obliged to postpone their nuptials, till all who were interested should be reconciled. After public worship most of the people retired to the adjoining schoolroom, to attend a prayer-meeting, at which the queen and her sister were present. These personages are always accompanied by two soldiers, armed with muskets, wherever they go.

Towards evening we visited some of the plantations in the neighborhood of the king's house. Here we saw the plant, called papà, a kind of rush, the long spires of which are used in making the finest mats. The paper mulberry, called onte, grows in great luxuriance here; its bark furnishes

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PALMA CHRISTI NATIVE MARTYRS.

the material for the best native cloth. The stem is seldom more than an inch in diameter, rising to the height of six or seven feet, and producing a broad, rough, light-green leaf. We were shown a ninii, or press, by which the residue of the cocoa-nut oil is extracted, after the better portion has been drained off by the process formerly described. The bamboo-bottles, in which the oil is kept, are single joints of that cane, which hold from two to three quarts each. The oil is introduced by a small hole pierced through the partition. at one end; when full, the aperture is plugged up, and bound over with the leaf of the fara, tied tight with purau bark. The palma christi, or castor oil plant, grows plentifully in these islands. It produces its berries, at the same time, in every stage, from small green clusters to full ripe ones; and frequently in the same bunch, the crude and the mellow appear intermingled. This seems to be the case, in some degree, with most of the fruit-bearing trees in this climate, which, being ever-green themselves, yield, contemporaneously and in succession, leaves, blossoms and fruit :-the vi-apple, and one other tree alone, being deciduous.

We.called upon the church deacon, already mentioned as being a chief and judge under the king. When this man first embraced the gospel, he became an object of hatred and abhorrence to the idolaters. A party of these had once conspired to kill him, when he and a few other pious persons were assembled together, in the evening, for prayer. The ruffians came secretly upon them, armed with muskets, and levelling their pieces, were about to destroy the whole groupe at a volley. Their deliverance was singularly providential; the marked victims within knew nothing of the lurking assassins without, yet were the latter restrained from executing their diabolical purpose, by an influence, which (as they declared afterwards) they could not understand. Seized with sudden horror at the deed on which they had been so desperately bent, they threw down the murderous engines, and rushing into the room, confessed their guilt. The Christians received them with so much kindness, and so freely forgave them, thus heaping coals of fire upon their heads,— that they were utterly overcome, and went away promising never to molest them again; and they kept their word. Two others, however, who had professed the Christian faith, were called to seal their testimony with their blood. Their persecutors having surprised them, and escape being cut off,