TOMB OF POMARE.

21

for the disposal of Chinese goods, blank books, stationery, slates, pencils, &c., and various articles of hardware, all in demand here, and purchased for cocoanut oil and arrow root. It is not believed, however, from the character of the agent, that this attempt in commercial enterprise will prove very profitable to the governor.

The point is covered with majestic and delightful groves, beneath which is the habitation of the queen, and the dwellings of her immediate dependents. Her house of frame, wattled and plastered, has an entrance, hall, and four rooms on the ground floor, besides an attic; and is a neat and comfortable building, but, in the absence of the royal party, unfurnished and shut up.

The mausoleum of Pomaré II.-in which the remains of his son Pomaré III. are also depositedlike the dwelling of the queen, is a white plastered house, in a large enclosure, embowered in the deepest shades of the groves. Near it, a section of the great royal chapel erected by him after his conversion to Christianity, is still standing; and is kept in good repair as a school-house. The original area of the building was more than seven hundred feet in length, by fifty in breadth.

A short distance farther towards Matavai, on an elevated and conspicuous site, stands the chapel of the Rev. Mr. Nott-a neat, well-finished, and even elegant place of worship. It is an oval, ninety-eight feet in length by fifty in breadth, two stories high, with numerous windows furnished with Venetian blinds. The roof is a beautiful thatch; and the

22

SCHOOLS AT THE

floor, seats, and pulpit, neatly wrought from timber of the bread-fruit tree. The whole is of native workmanship; and would compare to advantage, both in appearance and comfort, with most country churches, in any part of the United States. We joined the boat again at this spot, and reached the Vincennes early in the evening.

On a following day, I made the same excursion for a third time, with Captain Finch and a small party. In going we sailed outside the reef, and entered the harbor by the ship channel. The only incident of interest, varying this from the preceding visits, was the attendance of an hour at a school under the charge of Mr. Pritchard. The number of scholars was about one hundred and fifty of both sexes, from six, to ten and twelve years of age. It is established on the monitorial system; and the exhibition made by the pupils of native intelligence, and their proficiency in reading and writing, in rehearsing hymns and portions of scripture, in answering catechetical questions, and in singing, were such as greatly to interest and gratify us; and to elicit from Captain Finch-in an address to the scholars, interpreted by Mr. Pritchard-high encomiums on the attainments they had already made, and warm encouragement to a persevering attention to the means of improvement and intelligence with which they are favored.

The handwriting of many was quite equal to that of children of the same age, in schools in America; and the elder scholars are pursuing an elementary course in arithmetic, geography, and history. Very

MISSIONARY STATIONS.

23

few district schools in the interior of our own country, are accommodated with so pleasant, convenient, and spacious a school-house; and no school that could be visited, would present an appearance of greater neatness in the children, more brightness and happiness of look, modesty of apparel, and order and propriety of deportment. Schools of a similar kind are under the daily superintendence of the missionaries at every station; and facilities for securing the arts of reading and writing at least, are thus afforded to the whole population.

LETTER III.

A TAHITIAN SABBATH.

Matavai Bay at Tahiti,
August 22d, 1829.

THE first missionaries to the Georgian Islands, having made the voyage from England by the Cape of Good Hope, without an allowance for the gain of time in sailing eastward, were on their arrival at Tahiti, a half day and more in advance of visitors, coming to the islands by Cape Horn. This difference still continues; and, consequently to-day, though only Saturday, the 22d, in the record on board the Vincennes, is Sunday, the 23d, on shore.

A number of the officers and crew attended the services of Mr. Wilson's chapel, both in the morning and afternoon. The exercises on each occasion

24

SABBATH SCHOOL

were so similar, that I shall speak only of those of the morning worship, which I witnessed, in company with Captain Finch and a party from the ward-room and steerage.

We landed at nine o'clock, previously to which we had seen the people, in large numbers, going to, and returning from, a prayer meeting at sunrise. Hearing the sound of recitations in the school-house

-a neat and comfortable building between the cottage of Mr. Wilson and the chapel-we directed our course to it. A sabbath school, consisting of about one hundred and fifty boys and girls, from the ages of three and four years to fifteen and seventeen, was here assembled, in which several respectable, middle aged men acted as teachers and superintendents, while others of the same age and character walked along the passages at the sides and centre of the building, holding long, slender rods of the light hibiscus, with which to touch any of the younger scholars, when disposed to be mischievous and troublesome. Many of the parents and friends were also present as spectators.

When we entered, the whole school was repeating the answers of a catechism simultaneously, with great promptitude and correctness. This was followed by a recitation from the Bible, in which one scholar would rehearse a section of a chapter, and another that succeeding-thus alternating from individual to individual, and from class to class, with the greatest readiness; and manifesting, by the unhesitating manner in which they continued the exercise from verse to verse, and chapter to chapter,

no ordinary tenacity and strength of memory. A hymn was then sung, in which all joined; when the school was closed with an appropriate prayer by the superintendent. Mrs. Wilson and her daughters were present as teachers and managers of the female scholars; and in the whole aspect of the school, there was a cleanliness and propriety of dress, and personal appearance, and an intelligence and order equal to those found in any of the kind in our own country.

While at prayer,

"The sound of the church-going bell,"

with its sweet and elevating associations in the pious mind, began to reach us from a neighboring grove; and shortly after, the scholars, in a procession of two and two-the boys led by a native superintendent, and the girls by Mrs. Wilson and her daughtersquietly made their way to a temple of God, founded within the last fifteen years, on the ruins of altars which for time unknown had been steeped in blood. Crowds of islanders, of every grade, were also seen gathering, by well-made gravel walks, leading in various directions, beneath the thick shade of the trees covering the point, to the same spot, all clad in neat and modest apparel, principally white, of their own or foreign manufacture: and exhibiting in their whole aspect, a dignity and respectability of character becoming a Christian people. Almost every individual had in his hand a copy of the portions of the scripture, translated into the language of the group, and a book of hymns.