As The Evening Drew To A Close, I Strolled Beneath The
Gloomy Shade Of The Bananas Up The Course Of The Stream.
My Walk Was Soon Brought To A Close, By Coming To A Waterfall
Between Two And Three Hundred Feet High; And Again
Above This There Was Another.
I mention all these waterfalls
in this one brook, to give a general idea of the inclination
of the land.
In the little recess where the water fell, it did
not appear that a breath of wind had ever blown. The thin
edges of the great leaves of the banana, damp with spray,
were unbroken, instead of being, as is so generally the case,
split into a thousand shreds. From our position, almost
suspended on the mountain side, there were glimpses into the
depths of the neighbouring valleys; and the lofty points of
the central mountains, towering up within sixty degrees of
the zenith, hid half the evening sky. Thus seated, it was
a sublime spectacle to watch the shades of night gradually
obscuring the last and highest pinnacles.
Before we laid ourselves down to sleep, the elder Tahitian
fell on his knees, and with closed eyes repeated a long
prayer in his native tongue. He prayed as a Christian should
do, with fitting reverence, and without the fear of ridicule
or any ostentation of piety. At our meals neither of the men
would taste food, without saying beforehand a short grace.
Those travellers who think that a Tahitian prays only when
the eyes of the missionary are fixed on him, should have
slept with us that night on the mountain-side. Before morning
it rained very heavily; but the good thatch of banana-
leaves kept us dry.
November 19th. - At daylight my friends, after their
morning prayer, prepared an excellent breakfast in the same
manner as in the evening. They themselves certainly partook
of it largely; indeed I never saw any men eat near so
much. I suppose such enormously capacious stomachs must
be the effect of a large part of their diet consisting of fruit
and vegetables, which contain, in a given bulk, a comparatively
small portion of nutriment. Unwittingly, I was the
means of my companions breaking, as I afterwards learned,
one of their own laws, and resolutions: I took with me a
flask of spirits, which they could not refuse to partake of;
but as often as they drank a little, they put their fingers
before their mouths, and uttered the word "Missionary."
About two years ago, although the use of the ava was prevented,
drunkenness from the introduction of spirits became
very prevalent. The missionaries prevailed on a few good
men, who saw that their country was rapidly going to ruin,
to join with them in a Temperance Society. From good
sense or shame, all the chiefs and the queen were at last
persuaded to join. Immediately a law was passed, that no
spirits should be allowed to be introduced into the island,
and that he who sold and he who bought the forbidden
article should be punished by a fine.
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