AND BRING SHIP TO ANCHOR. 11 make some observation for himself, as to the best anchorage. In the meantime a boat was lowered, and Lieutenant Dornin dispatched on a visit to the Rev. Mr. Wilson, the resident missionary at Matavia. Having a slight personal acquaintance with Mr. Wilson, I accompanied him. We were received very kindly by this gentleman on the beach, and accom panied him to his cottage, a few rods distant, on the bank of a considerable river, running from the mountains through this part of the district. Finding him at leisure to go off to the ship, and knowing that our return would be looked for with impatience, after an introduction to Mrs. Wilson and her daughters, and a few moments conversation, we took our leave till the Vincennes should be at anchor. The trade-wind was blowing very fresh, with a heavy sea for a small boat, and the row off was tedious and unpleasant; we reached the ship without accident, however, and the pilot having at the same time joined her, we passed round the Dolphin-as a shoal, extending from Point Venus some distance along the shore, is called-and dropped anchor inside of it, within a mile of the beach, nearly opposite a high red bank, called "one tree hill." Mr. Wilson remained to dinner with the captain, and then landed to secure permission from the proper authorities, for the interment of a lad who had died on board, the night previous, of a consumption. Some objection was at first made by the natives, lest the disease, with which he had died, might have been contagious; but when assured, that this was not the case, a grave was prepared in the burial ground of the chapel; in which, at sunset, with slow procession and an admonitory service, we deposited the body-there to rest till "time shall be no longer." I remained at Mr. Wilson's to tea, in company with the captain and surgeon; and passed most of the evening at his cottage, in agreeable conversation. It was nine o'clock before we returned to the ship; the row off was delightful-a fine moon throwing a double charm, by its brightness, over the loveliness of the scenery around. From an early hour in the morning till noon today, the Vincennes was crowded with people from the shore, bringing various articles of refreshment and curiosity, for trade and barter. Ignorance of the comparative value of the articles they have to dispose of, and those they wish to secure; and anxious to make the exchange at the highest rate of gain on their part, the exorbitance of their demands and their seeming cupidity, are in some cases such, as to be exceedingly vexatious to those attempting to deal with them; but, there is nothing of the wild shouting, rudeness, and nakedness, so annoying at Nukuhiva -nor any thing in their whole appearance that is offensive, or indicative of any trait of character not to be found, in every market-place in a civilized and Christian country. The effect produced on them by our band, in comparison with that on the Nukuhivans, was very striking, and very pleasing. It is long since they have acquired a taste for the combination of sounds characterizing the music of European countries; and since, they have learned themselves to sing various parts in sacred music, with correctness and some de 1 THE PEOPLE AND EFFECT OF THE MUSIC. 13 gree of taste. Though the Nukuhivans would listen to the band for a first time, with a kind of wonder and momentary gratification, it was evident they had no particular relish for the style of music, or harmony of sounds produced by it; and, doubtless, thought it unequal, in the pleasure it afforded, to the monotonous beat of the drum, and the dull recitative of their own songs-but here, when the musicians were ordered on deck, hundreds clustered round in the manifest expectation of a rich enjoyment; and the moment they commenced playing, they hung in the rigging and upon the guns, in a silent delight, which none could avoid observing; while many evidently drank in the strains of varied harmony, with all the luxury of enjoyment of so many amateurs at home, at the performance of the first masters in the country. During the forenoon we had a visit from the chief justice of the island-a respectable-looking, welldressed, and dignified old man-at present at Matavai for the trial of several persons accused of sedition. He held a court at sunrise this morning, which I should have been glad to have attended, had I been apprised of it in time. Two or three persons were convicted of the transgression of special laws, and received the sentence annexed to the respective statutes broken. You are aware, that before the death of Pomare II., in 1821, a regular code of laws-including an equitable judiciary, and the important right of trial by jury-adapted to the state into which the nation had been brought, by a conversion from paganism to 14 ELLIS' POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. Christianity, was drawn up by the Rev. Mr. Nott, one of the first missionaries that came to the islands, and adopted by the king and whole body of chiefs in public council. Every law has a specific penalty attached-rendering the administration of justice, after the guilt of a person is established, perfectly equal : no discretion being left to the judge, in a modification of the sentence. The rehearsal of the law and its penalty, both of which are familiar to the person under trial-as every family is furnished with a printed copy of the code-is the only judgment pronounced. With the "Polynesian Researches" of our beloved friend Ellis before you, it will be unnecessary, however, for me to enter upon any elucidation of facts of this kind, that may come under my notice, during the visit we shall make at the Georgian and Society Islands. The original state of the people as found by the missionaries, their habits and customs, their religion, civil polity, and history-including the conversion of both groups from idolatry, the establishment of Christianity, and their present conditionare portrayed in his volumes with so much talent and such lively interest, with such perfect candor and minute correctness, and in such fullness of information, that I at once refer you to them for every thing connected with this section of the South Seas, except the incidents which may pass under the immediate observation of myself and shipmates, the few days we may remain within its limits. SCENERY ALONG SHORE. 15 LETTER II. HARBOR OF PAPEETE. Matavai Bay, at Tahiti, MR. and Mrs. Wilson and daughters dined with Captain Finch on Monday; and on Tuesday, a party from the ward-room and steerage, consisting of the lieutenants Stribling, Dornin, and Lardner, Dr. Wessels, midshipmen Maury, Keith, Hawkins, and myself, visited the harbor of Papeeté, six or seven miles westward of Matavai. The scenery along the intervening shore, beautiful by nature both in wild mountain and palmy plain -is now doubly so, from the neat cottages and lofty chapels, which, at the short intervals of two and three miles, insensibly blend thoughts of civilization and piety, with the impressions made on the mind by the luxuriance and grandeur of the natural imagery. We sailed the whole distance within a coral reef, which, shortly after leaving Matavai, lines the coast at a half a mile from the beach to the entrance of the harbor, and arrived at Papeeté at eleven o'clock. The bay, about three miles in circumference, is formed by an indenture of the shore between two points covered with groves of cocoanut trees; while the coral reef in front-through which there is an |