the necessity of the alteration, but their amazement reminds me of the dismay of earlier Catholic navigators, when they found they had been keeping irregular fast days. Thus, when the first circumnavigation of the globe was made by Magelhaen, who sailed in the San Lucas de Barrameda on 20th September, 1519, he found on his return, after a three years' cruise, to Santiago, one of the Cape De Verd Islands, that the Portuguese there were keeping Thursday, the 10th July, 1522, whereas his log marked Wednesday, the 9th, he having doubled the Horn and sailed from east to west. The idea of having lost a day of their lives disquieted the worthy and pious mariners far less than the fact that they had observed Lady-day erroneously, and had eaten meat on fast days! On their return to Spain they could not get credit for the lost day, which was set down to an error in reckoning, the meaning being that they had omitted the intercalary day in February, 1520. Peter Martyr spoke concerning this to the renowned Venetian ambassador, Contarini, who at once pointed out that a day must necessarily be lost in the course steered by the Victoria, while, on the other hand, a day would have been gained by sailing from W. to E. One consequence of this proof of the sphericity of the earth was, that it at once became obviously necessary to draw a line of demarcation between the Spanish and Portuguese settlements. Thus, too, Captain Steen Bille relates, that when he sailed from Tahiti he logged his departure as on Friday, 18th December, whereas on the adjacent island of Borra-Borra they were
already reckoning it the 19th. The mode of reckoning at Tahiti corresponded with his own, but only, it would seem, in consequence of an alteration which had been made a few weeks previously. In short, the mode of reckoning time among the South Sea Archipelagoes depends solely upon whether they have been approached in the first instance from the west or the east by the navigator who has introduced among them the Christian Calendar. However, so long as the discrepancy is not too great, a conventional mode of computation is employed, and one general epoch is used for all groups of islands in or near the meridian of 180°. In any case, it is a matter of indifference to the brown natives of these island groups whether or not they correspond with Greenwich at a given hour of a given day.
On 4th February the look-out man at the mast-head sung out "Land on the lee-bow!" This proved to be the small island of Tubuai, of the Rorutu Archipelago, the inhabitants of which at present seem to be likewise under the "careful" protection of France.
At length, on 11th February, we came in sight of Tahiti and the outlying Island of Eimeo or Morea, after which we tacked towards the latter, which we approached so closely that we could quite plainly distinguish its singular serrated outline, its precipitous crags, and its crater-like depressions, as well as the thick, gloomy forests that clothe its secluded valleys. Many of these pinnacles and steep rocky declivities presented all the appearance of a series of colossal ruins of
cities and palaces, protected by towers, battlements, and embrasures. About 4 P.M. we hove to off Papeete. The entrance into this harbour, surrounded by coral reefs which indeed form the haven, is exceedingly narrow, the fair way for the frigate not exceeding half a cable's length. As no pilot boat was visible, a blank shot was fired, and a certain signal hoisted, upon which a small boat pulled off with the long-looked for pilot. At 6 P.M. we cast anchor in 11 fathoms water, in clay ground. In the harbour were three whalers, a French transport, and the dispatch steamer Milan, which had left Sydney twelve days before us, had remained three days at New Caledonia, whence it had been 54 days on the voyage to Papeete, only making use of its steam in the most urgent cases. We ran up the flag of the French Protectorate at the main-mast-head, and saluted the city with the customary 21 guns, which were replied to by a field battery, which had to be brought down to the beach for the purpose. Much astonishment was expressed that we should have ventured to run the frigate through the narrow channel between Eimeo and Tahiti, which has a very bad repute, and is very rarely attempted by vessels of large size, but, as we ourselves experienced, is perfectly practicable with a favourable wind, and greatly shortens the approach to the harbour.
With the consent of the Governor, who received us with much cordiality (no intelligence having as yet reached these waters of the diplomatic misunderstandings which at our
antipodes were forming the prologue as it were of the war that broke out somewhat later), we were permitted to use the islet of Motu-Uta, lying in the harbour, for the purpose of carrying on, free from interruption, our astronomical, meteorological, and magnetic observations. A simple wooden hut which we found upon the island served for an observatory, while quantities of slender-stemmed cocoa-palms, waving their rustling green canopies overhead, invited us to welcome repose after the exhaustion of the day's labour. To this smiling islet, which rose in the midst of the bay like a basket of flowers, King Pomáre II. once retired, there to translate the Holy Scriptures into Tahitian. Here, too—probably in the very hut which now served us as an observatory—it was that the same sovereign, when old, spent whole days, and occasionally, according to tradition, indulged so freely in cognac that he was frequently heard, when in that state, to say to himself, "Pomáre, Pomáre! thy puan (pig) were now better fitted to reign than thou!"
FOOTNOTES:
[29] We are indebted to C. W. Stafford, Esq., Under Secretary of State to the Colonial Government, for copies of the latest statistical documents, from which we learn inter alia that at the end of 1859 the population amounted to 129,392, the aborigines numbering 56,049, and the foreigners 73,343.
[30] According to the tradition handed down from the chief Te-heŭ-heŭ, their forefathers emigrated first from Hawaiki-Tawiti-Nui, to Hawaiki-Patata, where they sojourned some time, and thence went to Hawaiki-Ki-te-Maiteŭ, whence they came to New Zealand.