AND HOUSEHOLD. 39 is manifestly a sensible, dignified, and truly Christian ruler. To-day has been the sabbath, on shore. The chapel here, like all we saw at the windward group, is large, well built, and a noble edifice, for such a people. It is not less than a hundred and twenty feet in length, and proportionately wide, calculated to seat two thousand hearers. The usual congregation varies from a thousand to twelve hundred. The number assembled to-day amounted to about eleven hundred; all well and neatly clad, and exhibiting in their whole appearance and manner of attending the service, every characteristic of civilization, respectability and piety, found in any common congregation in the United States. But for the color of the audience, indeed, it would have been difficult for any one to believe himself worshipping with those, who, till within a few years, had been lost in all the gross vice, licentiousness, and wildness of paganism. sight was at once delightful and affecting. The The dress of the men, from the king to the most unimportant individual present, consisted of a white shirt, and black silk or colored cravat, with a fine fringed mat, several yards in length, or a piece of muslin or calico of the same size, wrapped loosely from the loins to the knee, in a manner to resemble the drawers or trowsers of the eastern nations. A straw hat worn out-doors finished the attire. The females, in general, were in white muslin slips, with large mantles of calico or of native cloth over them; and bonnets of straw. Many, however, were dressed altogether in the European fashion, except the unbe coming deficiency in our eyes, of shoes and stockings a luxury scarce attainable by the first chieftains in the group. The old queen was conspicuous, in a white India muslin, handsomely made, with yellow silk handkerchief, fine ruff, satin sash, and modish straw hat and trimmings—a present from the governor of New South Wales. In many accidents of feature and manners, this individual is uncommonly like one of the most distinguished of our elderly female friends. Captain Finch, and a dozen of the officers attended the chapel in the morning. Arrangements had been made to take the band along, to play a few pieces of sacred music at intervals in the service, for the gratification of many, who would have no other opportunity of witnessing the performance of the musicians. The exercises began, as on board ship, with the Portuguese hymn. I was fearful that the novelty might occasion some confusion: but it did not in the least. There was not the slightest unbecoming excitement; not even among the children, who took their seats together, as they entered in long procession from the sabbath school. It was the day of the communion; and after the general congregation had been dismissed, about three hundred of both sexes, and of a variety of ages, with solemnity, and seemingly deep interest, partook of the emblems of the broken body and shed blood of Him, who gave his life a ransom for many. Much as the sincerity and piety of the church members in the Islands, have been doubted by the calumniators of the mission, from all I have observed and known, and COMMUNION SERVICE. 41 from all passing before me on this occasion, I was led to the fervent prayer, that I might myself, at last, be equally worthy, with many of these, of a seat at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Mr. Stribling and myself spent the evening with Mr. and Mrs. Williams. This we almost invariably do; and never without being deeply impressed by hearing, in the stillness of the night, the melody of the native hymn falling on the ear, in various directions, from the little cottages of islanders, as they engage in their evening devotions. Family worship, consisting of the reading of a portion of scripture, of a hymn, and of prayer, is universally practiced, not only in Raiatea, but throughout the whole nation. LETTER VI. AUDIENCE WITH THE QUEEN OF TAHITI, AND VISIT OF THE CHIEFS ON BOARD SHIP. Island of Raiatea, On the evening of the 6th inst., the queen of Tahiti, the dowager her mother, an aunt holding the office of regent, with a train of inferior chieftains, and a suite of followers, said to be the most lawless company in the two groups, arrived in two small vessels from Tahaa; and on the succeeding morning, a visit of ceremony was paid to the party, by Captain VOL. II. 5 Finch, and a number of the officers of the Vin cennes. The reputation of the Tahitian chieftains is far from being unspotted. The regent and dowager are both excommunicated members of the church; and the young queen's character, according to common report, is not sans reproche. Their whole appearance, however, was most decorous; and surpassed, in respectability, every anticipation we had been led to entertain. The interview took place, in the apartment already described, in the residence of king Tamatoa-the only alteration consisting in new mats on all the sofas, and in the introduction of two armed chairs at the upper end, as seats of honor, for the young queen, Pomaré, and her aunt, the regent. We were introduced in the order of rank; and found the court to consist of Pomaré Vahine I., Ariipaea, regent, Tereomoèmoè queen dowagerboth daughters of the king of Raiatea, the governess of Huahine, also his daughter-with their husbands -king Tamatoa and his wife, the governor of Tahaa, and several inferior chieftains, with four or five children, male and female, descendants of Tamatoa. Indeed, he is the patriarch of the whole number, being either the father, grand-father, uncle, or grand-uncle, by blood or marriage, of every chief person present. They were all dressed in European costume, varying in the expensiveness of the materials; and more or less complete, in the articles constituting a full suit. Mr. Williams, at the request of Captain Finch, attended as interpreter, and gave a full exposition of SHREWDNESS OF THE REGENT. 43 the nature and object of the visit of the Vincennes. The regent presided, the young queen saying nothing except through her, and then only in monosyllables. She is still young--only seventeen-of good figure and agreeable face, especially when smiling or in conversation, when she is better looking than most females we have seen, since leaving the Washington Islands. While at Tahiti a complaint, well founded, as we ascertained, had been made to Captain Finch of the conduct of the queen and regent, in reference to some deserters from an American whale ship-natives of the Sandwich Islands, but regularly shipped members of the crew-which he thought necessary and desirable to bring forward. The subject evidently was not an agreeable one to the persons principally concerned; and we were quite amused, at the adroit manner in which the regent attempted to screen herself and the queen, from the censure to which she perceived they were exposed. The most wily diplomatist could scarce have exhibited more tact, in turning to good account an unfavorable aspect of things, or greater ingenuity in avoiding an unpleasant dilemma. After having placed the subject in a light, calculated to prevent a recurrence of similar conduct, the matter was pleasantly dismissed by the captain; and the official part of the audience closed, by an invitation to the whole company to visit the ship the next day. The conference being thus ended, the king of Raiatea and his queen, accompanied by the dowager and regent of Tahiti, retired to one of the inner |