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Show 480 'l'AHITI. Nov. 1835. truders are not overwhelmed, by the all-powerful and never-tiring waves of that great sea, miscalled t?~ Paci~c. . NOVEMBER 15TH.-At daylight, Tahiti, an Island whiCh must for ever remain as Classical to the voyager in the South Sea, was in view. At this distance the appearance was not very inviting. The luxuriant vegetation of the lower parts was not discernible, and as the clouds rolled past, the wildest and most precipitous peaks showed themselves towards the centre of the island. As soon as we came to an anchor in Matavai Bay, we were surrounded by canoes. This was our Sunday, but the 'Monday of Tahiti: if the case had been reversed, we should not have received a single visit; for the injunction not to launch a canoe on the sabbath is rigidly obeyed. After dinner we landed to enjoy all the delights of the first impressions produced by a new country, and that country the charming Tahiti. A crowd of men, women, and children, was collected on the memorable point Venus, ready to receive us with laughing, merry faces. They marshalled us towards the house of Mr. Wilson, the missionary of the district, who met us on the road, and gave us a very friendly reception. After sitting a short time in his house, we separated to walk about, but returned there in the evening. The land capable of cultivation is scarcely in any part more than a fringe of low alluvial soil, accumulated round the base of the mountains, and protected from the waves of the sea by a coral reef, which encircles at a distance the entire line of coast. The reef is broken in several parts so that ships can pass through, and the lake of smooth water within thus affords a safe harbour, as well as a channel for the native canoes. The low land which comes down to the beach of coral sand, is covered by the most beautiful productions of the intertropical regions. In the midst of bananas, orange, cocoa-nut, and breadfruit trees, spots are cleared where yams, sweet potatoes, sugar-cane) and pineapples, are cultivated. Even the brushwood is a fruit-tree, namely, the guava, which from its abundance is as noxious Nov. 1835. TAIII'l'I. 481 as a· wd ebe d. In· Brazil I have often admired th e contrast of vane ea. uty m. .t he banana' palm ' a n d orange tree: here we have m addition the bread-fruit, conspi.C uous from I. ts large, glossy, and deep1y digitated leaf It I. d . bl b l · s a mira e to e lOld groves of a tree sendinO' forth .t b h . h £ ' o I s ranc es w1th t e ·1 0· rce of a. n English oak ' loaded WI· th 1a rge and most nutntwus fnnt. However little on t . . . exp1ains the delight received from anymfios occasiOns .utlh~y . . ne prospect, m this case It cannot fail to enter as an ele t . h f, . The little winding paths cool .from th;en m dt. e eelmg. l d ' surroun mg shade e to the scattered houses '. and the own ers of th ese every' where gave us a cheerful and most hospitable reception. I was pleas~d wit? nothing so much as with the inhabitants. The. re Is a mildness in the expressi·on of th ei. r counte-nances, whiCh at once banishes the idea of a savaO'e. a d •tlli · o' nan m e gence, whiCh shows they are advancing in ciVI.li.zat·' Th . d . . wn. eir ress IS as yet mcongruous ; no settled costume having tat ken t·h e ·p lace of the an.c ient one · But e ve n m. I. t s present s ate,. It IS far from bemg so ridiculous as it has been descnbed by tr~vel1ers of a few years' standing. Those ~ho can .afford It wear a white shirt, and sometimes a Ja~ket, With a wrapper of coloured cotton round their middles; thus making a short petticoat, like the chilipa of the ~auc.hos. This dress appears so general with the chiefs, that It Will probably become the settled fashion. No one ev~n to the queen, wears shoes or stockings; and only th; chiefs have a straw hat on their heads. The common people, when working, keep the upper part of their bodi uncovered; and it is then that the Tahitians are seen :~ advan~age. They are very tall, broad-shouldered, athletic, and Wlth well-proportioned limbs. It has been somewhere :;marked: that it requires little habit to make a darker tint E the skin more pleasing and natural, even to the eye of an b uropean: than his own colour. To see a white man bathing bl y the side of a Tahitian, was like comparing a plant eached by the gard ene r's art, w·i th one growm. g m. the open fields. Most of the men are tattooed; and the orna- VOL. III. 2 I |