At four o'clock, the dinner was served to our guests and their suite, entirely in the Russian mode; except the etiquette of placing the Royal Family a little apart from the rest of the company. The infant King had long before begun to cry from weariness, and had been carried back into the boat, where he had quietly fallen asleep. A prayer was repeated before and after dinner. The visitors seemed to think our dishes very palatable, and even the Royal Family ate with good appetite, though they had so recently made a substantial meal. Their conduct was extremely decorous, and showed much aptitude in imitation. They made use of the knives, forks, and spoons as readily as if they had been always accustomed to them; and the wine, though by no means despised, was very moderately enjoyed.
After dinner a general conversation took place, in which a man of seventy years of age distinguished himself by his animation and intelligence. He was the only individual present who had personally known Captain Cook. He asserted that he had been his particular friend, and for this reason still bore his name, which he pronounced quite correctly, although there is neither a C nor K in the Tahaitian alphabet. He boasted not a little of having accompanied Cook in his coasting voyages about the islands, and of having often slept in the same tent with him. He knew the names of all Cook's company, and could recollect the particular pursuits of each officer. To describe the manner in which Cook had observed the height of the sun, he asked for a sextant, placed himself in a stooping position, and looking fixedly upon an angle, often called with a loud voice, Stop!
He could relate the Bible-history in short extracts, from the Creation to the birth of Christ; and in order to explain the doctrine of the Trinity, he held up three fingers, pressed them together, and looked towards the Heavens. The old Cook (as he called himself,) was not entirely ignorant of geography. He said he possessed a map presented to him by his friend;—that England was an island, and much smaller than Russia; and traced out, on a map of the World being opened before him, the way by which we had come to Tahaiti.
At sunset our Royal visitants departed, highly gratified with their entertainment, and returned to the capital. This visit being over, I hoped to be at liberty to pursue my occupations in peace, but in this I was disappointed. Though my habitation was surrounded by sentinels, I was continually disturbed by swarms of curious islanders, who, troublesome as they were, were yet so gentle and good-tempered that it was impossible to be angry with them. They were particularly pleased with Dr. Eschscholz's little museum, and took pains to collect from every corner of the island, butterflies, beetles, birds, and marine productions, by way of showing their sense of the kindness with which he exhibited his treasures, often receiving from him in return some trifling present, which they considered of great value. One of them was fairly overpowered with gratitude by the gift of an old coat. With much admiration of such profuse generosity, and many expressions of rapture, he at length succeeded in cramming his large body into the garment of the infinitely smaller and more slender philosopher, and strutted about with his back hunched up, and his arms sticking out, envied by all his acquaintances for the magnificence of his attire.
Though the vice of theft has certainly greatly diminished among the Tahaitians, they cannot always refrain from endeavouring to appropriate the articles they prize so highly. For instance, I think if any one of the Tahaitian ladies had found an opportunity of stealing a bit of the mock gold lace, the temptation would have been too great to withstand. Every theft however is, on discovery, punished without distinction of persons, and the criminal, on conviction, is generally sentenced to work on the highway. A road has been made round the island, on which those who have committed great transgressions, are condemned to labour; but it is probable that neglect of prayer, or any trifling offence against the Missionaries, would also entail this punishment upon them.
We had an opportunity of observing the severity with which theft is punished. A complaisant husband could not resist the entreaties of his wife, who longed for one of our sheets. One day, when the sailors were washing in the river, he took an opportunity, unperceived as he thought, to snatch up one of these coveted articles and run off with it. Some of his countrymen, who had watched him, directly brought him back, bound him to a tree, and informed me and a Missionary of the circumstance. On reaching the spot, I already found the Judge of the district and the Missionaries Wilson and Tyrman standing beside the thief, who was still bound to the tree. Mr. Tyrman, who was especially bitter, could not refrain from abuse: he called the criminal a brute, who was not worthy to be treated as a human creature, and acted altogether as if the affair were his. This would have surprised me, as the judge of the district was present, and Mr. Tyrman had no official appointment on the island, but he was a member of the Missionary Society,—et tout est dit. I was now asked if I wished the offender to be whipped, as he had not the means of paying the forfeit of three pigs to the person robbed, which the law demands, in addition to the punishment of ignominious labour. I forgave him the equivalent for the pigs, and begged that he might be dismissed with a severe admonition upon the disgrace of theft, and an earnest warning for the future. This request, however, was not granted, and the unfortunate offender was taken away, still tied, to work on the highway: the Judge and Mr. Wilson concurred in assuring me that he was not a Tahaitian, but an inhabitant of another island, who had come hither with one of the tributary kings, and declared that a Tahaitian would not have stolen the sheet. The only article which we lost besides this, was an iron hoop from a barrel, and as the thief was not discovered, it remained undecided whether their assertion was well-grounded or not. At all events, it appears certain that thefts do not take place oftener than among civilized nations.
With the chastity of the Tahaitian women, the case is similar; and it does not appear to me that the breaches of this virtue are more frequent on the whole than in Europe. It was with the utmost caution and secrecy, and in the most fearful anxiety lest their errors should be betrayed to the Missionaries, that the females complied with the desires of our sailors. An accidental occurrence proved that their terrors were not groundless. A married man who possessed a house of his own, was induced to barter, according to the custom of his ancestors, the favours of his wife for some pieces of iron: he had also assisted a young man in an intrigue with a woman whose husband was not so complaisant, by lending his house as a place of rendezvous. Suddenly the owner and his wife disappeared in the night, the house was found empty next morning, and we could never learn what had become of its proprietors. Have the Missionaries already introduced the Oubliettes?
Having occasion one morning to visit Wilson on business, I found his door, which usually stood open, closed and fastened: I knocked several times; but the whole house seemed buried in the repose of death: at length, after loud and repeated strokes, the door was opened by Wilson, whose cheeks bedewed with tears made me apprehensive that some great calamity had befallen him; I was however soon satisfied that devotion alone had caused this emotion. In an ante-room I found four or five naked Tahaitians, of the highest rank, as Wilson told me, on their knees reading the Bible. Having apologized for what appeared to be an unseasonable intrusion, I was about to retire, but was invited by Wilson, in a friendly manner, into the inner apartment, where I found his whole family, with Messrs. Bennet and Tyrman, kneeling round a breakfast-table, on which coffee and various kinds of meat were arranged. Tyrman was praying aloud, the rest silently joining him. He thanked God for the progress the Missionaries had made in spreading Christianity. How willingly would I have concurred in his thanksgiving, had the religion they taught been true, genuine Christianity, propitious to human virtue and human happiness.
The prayer lasted yet a quarter of an hour; on its conclusion, the company rose and breakfasted with a good appetite; but offered nothing to the distinguished personages in the other apartment, who were suffered to leave the house unnoticed.
I found the bread-fruit, as baked in the ovens by the Europeans here, excellent. The natives retain their old custom of baking in the earth.