166

LETTERS FROM MAUPITI.

done, before the nation was, in this respect at least, converted by the power of the gospel.

April 3. Having, some days ago, addressed a letter of Christian remembrance to the people and church of Maupiti, a canoe from that island has brought us the following acknowledgments, which we transcribe (in an English version) as specimens of native epistolary style.

"O Miti Taiamani-O Miti Peneti, &c.

"To Mr. Tyerman and Mr. Bennet.

“Our dear brethren! who have come to refresh us, who have come with kindness-may you be saved by the true God, the King of heaven, and by Jesus Christ, our good Lord, who sent you two to our land. This is one word.

"We have great comfort of heart, yea, our hearts are enlarged in praise to God. It is our desire that the gospel of our Savior may grow in this land. That is another word. "The brethren and sisters are delighted with what you two have written to them. We remember the former sayings with which you encouraged us. Your faces and your

We

looks are lost to us, but you are written in our hearts. pray that you may be returned to your own land, and that no sickness may come upon you in your dwellings. May you be saved, Taiamani and Peneti! in the Lord.

FAREBUA,
REVAE,

the Teachers."

THE KING'S LETTER.

"Na Taiamani ma rana Peneti, Porapora.

66

"Maurua, April 3, 1823.

"Dear Friends, Bennet and Tyerman, at Borabora.

May you two be saved by the true God, by Jehovah, and by Jesus Christ our Lord! This is one little word to you. My heart is rejoicing because of the sayings in that letter which you wrote to refresh me. My love strongly remains towards you two, as if your own little words were written on my heart, because we have one object of affection-the gospel of our Savior. My heart agrees with you two, and with all the brethren, and all the sisters, and all the little children, boys and girls. The end of my little word.

TIERO."

MISSIONARY MEETING.

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April 9. The missionary anniversary was celebrated by anticipation (being usually held in the month of May), that we might be present. The contributions amounted to two thousand four hundred and eight bamboos of cocoa-nut oil. The meeting lasted the whole day, including an interval of not more than an hour for refreshment. Many parau-iti, "little speeches," were made in the course of the proceedings, by chiefs and other natives distinguished for their piety and scriptural knowledge. These frequently did not occupy more than three or four minutes in the delivery; but this people speak with admirable promptitude, fluency, and correctness. Some of the more eloquent speakers will harangue for ten minutes or a quarter of an hour with great force, but always in brief, pregnant sentences. Strict etiquette is ob

served. Each is heard with the most patient attention, and never interrupted. When one sits down, another rises, not hastily, but decorously, and, when he finds himself in possession of the meeting, commends his "little word," distinctly, to the family of the kings, the chiefs, the raatiras, the common people, the women, and the young ones present.

April 10. This day was devoted to secular business of great interest and importance here,-namely, the adoption of the amended code of laws, which have long been under revision, and to the improvement of which we have given our best assistance. The proceedings were commenced by an act of amnesty to all state offenders, under sentences of hard labor at the public works, on their separately promising to endeavor to lead orderly and peaceable lives in future. There were about sixty men and women; of whom eight only had been baptized, and only one appeared to be above twenty years of age. Most of the culprits assented, without hesitation, to the engagement, when they understood that it did not involve a matter of fact, but of purpose; for (as some very honestly remarked, when the question was put to them) they did not know whether they should ever again do wrong or not. One man, a chief, was very obstinate. He had married a certain woman, and on the same day eloped with another, with whom he continued to live among the mountains, till he was apprehended, and brought to justice. This renegade husband, for some time, peremptorily demurred to the condition of pardon offered to him-namely, to return to his own house and take his lawful wife thither. After much

168

PARIS, OR FORTIFICATIONS.

persuasion, and on being threatened with the punishment of the stocks, which is considered very ignominious, he at length yielded, frankly observing, " It is only from fear of the stocks that I consent to go home and live with my wife.”

The debates on the code then commenced, and continued till evening. Each law was separately read, discussed, and put to the vote, for acceptance or rejection. The whole was conducted in a good spirit, and ended satisfactorily.

April 11. This forenoon we visited the two paris, as they are called, situated upon the great mountain of Paia, being rude fortresses built on the least accessible slopes of the hills, and inclosing considerable spaces of the surface, intersected with strong walls, which served not merely as fences, but supplied ammunition wherewith to annoy an ascending enemy. These belonged to the two kings of the island; that on the south to Mai, and that on the north to Tefaaora. They were separated only by a footpath, and extended along the rocky ridge of the mountain. Each pari is about half a mile in length, and furnishes a curious specimen of rough but effectual fortification, suited to the circumstances of the ground, and the modes of warfare formerly existing among the people. Within the inclosures are bread-fruit, cocoanut, plantain, vi-apple, and other trees, to supply provisions, with water-springs, on which a besieged garrison might subsist for months; so that it would be as difficult for their assailants to starve them into surrender, as to storm their lines. In one place was the wreck of an old canoe, built in the last war, and laid there to appease the anger of some god. Offerings of that kind were not unfrequently resorted to, for the same superstitious purpose. These canoes were constructed entirely by the kings and chiefs themselves; no vulgar hand was allowed to aid in the sacred work. Both bulwarks and canoes are now left to perish by exposure to the elements; floods, hurricanes, and burning suns, are rapidly demolishing these last memorials of departed horrors and atrocities.

SINGULAR PHENOMENON.

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

Return to Raiatea-Singular Water-spout-Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain -Dreadful Narrative of Captain Pollard-News from the Sandwich Islands-Raiatean Tradition-First Overthrow of Idolatry in RaiateaLand Crabs Departure for Huahine-Missionary Meeting held, and the Code of Laws settled.

April 16. HAVING concluded our official duties here, we took an affectionate leave of our friends, and availed ourselves of Mr. Orsmond's kindness to convey us in his own boat to Raiatea and Huahine, and embarked accordingly, this morning. The air was calm, till we had got into the open sea beyond the reef, when a violent shower assailed us, and a water-spout shot from a high cloud, slender and nearly perpendicular, reaching half way downward towards the water. It was visible for about three minutes, and then dispersed. Soon afterwards our attention was arrested by another phenomenon of a similar kind, but of much more rare occurrence. This was, or appeared to be, a water-spout, slightly curved, and stretching horizontally between two clouds, connecting them together, and rapidly transmitting a stream from one to the other, like that which passes between the sea and the cloud in ordinary cases. The tube was cylindrical, semitransparent, smooth, and well defined, except towards the extremities, where, at its junction with the dense black masses of vapor between which it was suspended, the edges became ragged and fleecy. This singular conduit, as well as we could judge, might be three quarters of a mile in length, and of proportionate though slender diameter. The higher end was directly above us, sloping at an angle of about three degrees, to the eye, from the zenith; so that we gazed upon the suspended flood-gate with admiration not unmingled with awe, for, had it broken downwards, our frail vessel and all on board must have been instantaneously submerged. There was no agitation on the surface of the sea; the breeze was light and fluttering; and there had been some distant thunder within the hour:-the whole process of formation and dissolution took place in the atmosphere, and was effected in little more than five minutes from the time when we discovered the first symptom of it in the sky, which was otherwise lowering with clouds, on either side of the two between which

170

ARRIVAL AT RAIATEA.

this transverse pipe was projected, and into which it soon resolved itself. Gratified as we had been with the opportunity of contemplating a spectacle so strange, we could not but feel happy, on its disappearance, that we had been providentially preserved from the peril which must have accompanied so portentous a combination of destructive elements immediately over our heads.

We were obliged to rely upon the strenuous exertions of our rowers, all day, for the slow progress which could be made, without a breeze to swell our sail. Not, however, till we had got into smooth water, within the reef of Tahaa, did the patient and indefatigable natives drop their oars to take any food, except an occasional morsel, or a draught of cocoanut water. And no sooner had they moderately refreshed themselves at this point, than they renewed their labors, and pushed towards Vauaara, the missionary station in Raiatea, where we landed in safety in the course of the night.

April 16. In the harbor here, we found the American brig Pearl, captain Chandler, which had put in for repairs, having sprung a leak at sea; and on board of this vessel, to our great joy and surprise, we met with our friends, Mr. and Mrs. Chamberlain, from the Sandwich Islands. We never expected to have seen their faces again in this world. They were, however, for reasons which we had known and approved when we parted with them, on their return with their young family to America. They gave us the most gratifying account of the safe arrival and cordial reception of Mr. and Mrs. Ellis, at Oahu, by our American missionary friends there, by the king also, the chiefs, and the people—all of whom rejoiced to welcome them as servants of the Most High God, arrived among them to teach a nation, without any religion, the only doctrines under heaven worthy of that

name.

There were three captains on board this brig, as passengers to America. The ships of two of these had been wrecked, and that of the third condemned. One of them was captain George Pollard, whose singular and lamentable story, in the case of a former shipwreck (as nearly as can be recollected by Mr. Bennet), deserves to be recorded in his own manner. It was substantially as follows:

My first shipwreck was in open sea, on the 20th of November, 1820, near the equator, about 118° W. long. The vessel, a South Sea whaler, was called the Essex. On that day, as