may result, from their ill conduct, to others who may come after them.

Believing this to be the fact, Captain Finch is desirous of staying its consequences as far as practicable; and of removing any former ill impressions, by paying to their chiefs, as the rulers of a sovereign people, every mark of respect in his power. We early had direct proof of the wisdom of this determination, and of the capacity of these savage chieftains, rightly to appreciate the dress and etiquette of a ceremonious visit, in comparison with a commonplace and informal call, in the disappointment and chagrin openly expressed by the Taua of Taioa, because the parties visiting his valley and people went in the undress suitable for a pic-nic, and not in the display in which he had first met us at Taiohae.

But to return the beach was not much thronged when we landed; great numbers of the men being on board the Vincennes with cocoanuts and different articles for barter, while crowds of females covered the rocks abreast of her; and could not make their way to the place of landing, as rapidly as we did. The Taua conducted us to his house, a few hundred yards in rear of the stone wall across the front of the valley a large building of the usual construction, darkened by the thickness of the groves overhanging it, and the luxuriance of the various growth within its inclosures. Here upon their own territory, and within one of their own dwellings--surrounded by their wives and children and in presence of the officers of our party-Captain Finch chose again to enforce on them the various advice previously given,

AND CANNIBALISM.

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before distributing the cloth, calicoes, iron implements, &c., brought on shore for the purpose. They reiterated their cordial approbation of his sentiments. said they were good, and such as no other person had ever suggested to them; that they would gladly make peace with the other tribes, and be happy to dwell hereafter, in harmony and friendship.

They admitted the practice of stealing from other tribes, victims to offer in sacrifice; and excused themselves by saying, that the Hapas and Teiis were guilty of the same outrage against them. In answer to the direct question, whether it was true, that they did eat the bodies of their enemies, and of prisoners taken in battle, they without a moment's hesitation declared positively and repeatedly that they did. On expressing our horror at such an abomination, they said they would do so no more; and the Taua added, that he would interdict the sacrifice of human victims at his death, so that there need be no occasion then for the inhuman crime of man-stealing.

Ascertaining that there was a meae or temple in the immediate vicinity, after finishing the conversation we walked to it. The principal building was empty, but strewn with the fragments of different vegetable offerings; while in a smaller house adjoining, there were three rudely carved idols similar to all we had before seen--except that one was a Janus Bifrons--the first double faced god I have met.

The thick and heavy groves of bread-fruit, overtopped by the more lofty cocoanut, and the rankness of all the undergrowth, entirely intercepted the air from the sea-side; and finding the walking wet and

unpleasant, and the heat very oppressive, we soon prepared to rejoin our boats.

On emerging from the thickets, we found the change, from the damp and heated atmosphere within, to the freshness of a delightful sea breeze on the beach, so grateful that we stopped half an hour under the shade of a clump of the hibiscus, the better to enjoy it; and soon had a subject for contemplation in the crowds of both sexes and of every age, which gathered round in all their rudeness, to gaze and admire, and express their good will in noisy exclamations and merriment. The variety in admirably modeled figure, in costume and savage ornaments, thus presented, would have inade a desirable study for a master. I busied myself, in seizing the outlines of some of the most striking objects, till our boats were called in from beyond the surf.

Our departure afforded another interesting sketch. As we lay upon our oars, after gaining the smooth water, waiting the safe embarkation of the whole suite, we had a full and beautiful view of the semicircular beach sweeping round the bottom of the bay, with its richly topped groves and overhanging mountains. Many hundreds of the islanders covered the shore; some entirely naked-many nearly sowhile others appeared in war-caps of feathers playing gaily in the breeze, and in tufted turbans and other fanciful headdresses, below which their mantles of various hues floated gracefully about their limbs: all mingled in one living mass, from children still in their mothers' arms, to withered dames of threescore years and ten, and veteran warriors with snowy locks

and fleecy beard, seeming to need the spears they held, for staves, to support the decrepitude of their tottering frames, rather than as weapons of defence against an enemy. Among them, might here and there be discerned the glittering buttons, epaulets, and laced hat of an officer thickly thronged, or the less expensive but gayer uniform of a marine-affording a strong contrast to the wild islander, with his tataued skin, savage ornaments, unlanced spear, and warclub tufted with the hair of enemies, slain by him in battle.

It was one of the most characteristic and novel scenes we had witnessed at the island; and fixed our gaze till we had nearly reached the ship.

In the afternoon I went on shore again, intending to spend an hour in sketching; but a friendly native who I had seen in the train of a chief in the inorning, urged me to go with him up the valley, to see, as he expressed it, "the country of the young king Moana ;" and notwithstanding the terrific character given us of the Taipiis, I committed myself to his guidance, and walked a mile and a half or two miles inland. The valley is watered in its whole length, by a pure and lively stream; and every where exhibits the same richness of soil, and heavy growth seen on the beach. Judging from the number of dwellings, it must contain a large population; though from the ship it appears very contracted in its boundaries. I saw two houses only that seemed of a religious character-one a burial place with the shrines and bier of the dead, adjoining a building containing, as usual, three idols-and the other a

322

CASE OF SICKNESS

tabu house of some person of distinction, on an elevated platform, at the corners of which were two images of stone, green with the moss which time had spread over them.

The Tahua, or dancing ground, about a mile from the shore, is as regular and well built as that in the upper valley of the Hapas; and one of the dwelling houses near, is the largest, most neatly built, and ornamented, of any seen, either at Taiohae or Taioa. I stopped to take a drawing of it, much to the amazement of the people around; and to their seeming admiration, when, on showing it to them, they recognized the sketch; and probably understood, in some degree, the design in taking it.

I

An old woman was lying sick in one corner. attempted to sympathize with her, and ascertain the nature of her illness; but she seemed rather surly, and the most I could get from her was "mai iau” "I am sick." It is the first instance I have met of confinement by sickness; and from all I can learn, their diseases are few and not very frequent. Besides pulmonary affections and diseases of the liver, they have the dropsy, which they ascribe to having eaten fruit that has been tabued with more than ordinary ceremony. They are also subject to the rheumatism, which, in some instances, is so severe as to contract the fingers and toes, so as to cause them to be perfectly double. This effect is also attributed by them to a superstitious cause. A species of leprosy too, is said to exist here-covering the skin with a scurf, affecting the use of the limbs, and drawing the fingers backward.