And so agreeable is this licentious plan of life to their disposition, that the most beautiful of both sexes thus commonly spend their youthful days, habituated to the practice of enormities which would disgrace the most savage tribes, but are peculiarly shocking amongst a people whose general character in other respects has evident traces of the prevalence of humane and tender feelings.
The Tahitians have reason to claim that
The vices collected through so many ages for a long time past flow in upon us.
SENECA.
Intemperance among the natives has never had a firm foothold in the island and tobacco is used with moderation. Gambling, such a common vice among the peoples of the Orient, has never been cultivated and practiced to any extent in Tahiti. These ocean-bound people, living in happy and contented isolation, had no desire for national or personal wealth or fame, neither had they any inclination or desire for art or the sciences. They believed in the mottoes:
If you are but content, you have enough to live upon with comfort.
PLAUTUS.
and
Ambition breaks the ties of blood, and forgets the obligations of gratitude.
SIR WALTER SCOTT.
They lived a restful, unselfish life, happy in the companionship of their families, relatives and friends, with no morbid desires to distract them from the full enjoyment of what Nature showered upon them with bountiful never-failing liberality.
Their customs are by Nature wrought; But we, by art, unteach what Nature taught.
DRYDEN.