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.
With remarkable justice,
a certain period was allowed for stock in hand to be
sold, before the law came into effect.
But when it did, a
general search was made, in which even the houses of the
missionaries were not exempted, and all the ava (as the
natives call all ardent spirits) was poured on the ground.
When one reflects on the effect of intemperance on the
aborigines of the two Americas, I think it will be acknowledged
that every well-wisher of Tahiti owes no common debt
of gratitude to the missionaries. As long as the little island
of St. Helena remained under the government of the East
India Company, spirits, owing to the great injury they had
produced, were not allowed to be imported; but wine was
supplied from the Cape of Good Hope. It is rather a striking
and not very gratifying fact, that in the same year
that spirits were allowed to be sold in Helena, their use was
banished from Tahiti by the free will of the people.
After breakfast we proceeded on our Journey. As my object
was merely to see a little of the interior scenery, we
returned by another track, which descended into the main
valley lower down. For some distance we wound, by a most
intricate path, along the side of the mountain which formed
the valley.
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