The Tahitians, long before the arrival of the French, had a code or charter of their own. The last was drawn up in 1823 by the Protestant missionaries, upon the model of that of England, and was revised in 1826. Its provisions were that the throne should be inherited by either male or female descendants of the reigning dynasty. By it the island was divided into seven districts; the legislative power was vested in an assembly of fourteen members, viz. two from each district, who were to be re-elected every three years by the people. This constitution underwent divers mutilations at the hands of the French Protectorate, till it had lost all importance. At present, however, it is the subject of lively debate, and the Tahitian parliament at Papeete can reckon some really distinguished speakers; but its solution depends much less upon the conviction of logic than the influence of the French officials.
We heard a very remarkable speech from Ravaai, one of the most gifted of the native orators, on the occasion of a debate as to whether a law should be passed admitting beer and French wines, duty free, into the island. Several speakers were of opinion, considering the terrible spread among both sexes of drunkenness, with all its attendant evils,
that every description of spirituous liquor should be prohibited to be sold to the natives; Ravaai, on the other hand, spoke in favour of the enactment, and in the course of his speech remarked: "If the use of spirituous liquors were in itself criminal, as some persons maintain, we should not see it in every-day use by the Europeans living amongst us, our pioneers in the path of civilization. It is only excess, abuse, that are punishable. This we must expect to have to punish, but do not rob us of an inherent right by a sumptuary and unnatural prohibition. Your declarations concerning murder, incendiarism, ruffianism, all which you adduce as the results of the use of brandy, are but oratorical flourishes: spirituous liquors, the misuse of which I equally with yourselves deprecate, have, no doubt, produced disorders, but these have been suppressed, and if our island had no further ills to encounter we might rejoice this day over a future of such prosperity and promise! Such, unfortunately, is not the case! People tell us of murders and robberies! Go the round of the island! go from Mahaéna to Punaruu, from Papenoo to Taapua, and a variety of other places—climb the mountain to the very summit of Fautáua; ask at these abodes of sorrow, baptized with noble blood, and covered with honoured graves! Say what has filled the graves of Mahaéna with human bones? Is it the unlimited use of spirits, or is it not rather the ignorance begotten of fanaticism run mad, which disloyally put weapons into your hands? But the graves are dumb; and certain persons present may at this moment
rejoice at that repose. If it is your wish sincerely, and with hope of definite results, to forbid the sale of intoxicating stimulants in Tahiti, begin by forbidding those mighty nations who trade with our island, and are interested in this traffic, from bringing and introducing the destroying liquids in their vessels!! But your voices, ye unhappy Tahitians, are too feeble to make themselves heard in England, in France, in Spain, in America! Well, then, renounce it, deny yourselves!" The law was passed by ninety-five votes against thirteen, and, in consequence, not merely French wines, but all sorts of liquors, may be sold in Tahiti unchecked by license. The penalties for drunkenness have since then formed an important source of revenue!
Among the foreigners settled in Papeete our Expedition had reason to be especially thankful to Mr. W. Howe, member of the London Missionary Society, and M. Adam Kulczycki,[70] director of the administration of native matters, two gentlemen, of whom the former has, during a residence of twenty-two years in Tahiti, employed in spreading the gospel and raising the morals and religious standard of his little flock, proved himself as useful a servant, as the latter by his valuable contributions to our knowledge of the physical condition of the island. Dr. Nadaud, botanist and physician, also laid
the Expedition under deep obligations by the cordiality with which he placed himself at the disposal of the naturalists, to accompany them on their various excursions, and imparting to them his own valuable experience, while the splendid and comprehensive work of Dr. G. Cuzent[71] upon Tahiti, contributed greatly to assist our personal impressions, experiences, and observations. Mr. Howe, the sole English missionary now resident in Tahiti, received us with much kindness, and escorted us through the various missionary buildings, in which, unfortunately, the spiritual energy of bygone years has dwindled away under the baleful French Protectorate. The institute for the education of teachers and pastors is quite closed,—in the printing establishment, which formerly kept ten compositors and two iron hand-presses in constant employment, only small religious tracts are now permitted to be sold, and these exclusively in Tahitian, a work which one man can easily get through. In the missionary library we saw several interesting works and manuscripts, mostly of a religious cast. One was shown us which seemed to be highly esteemed, and consisted of a thick manuscript treating of Tahiti, the author of which was a Mr. Orsmond, the oldest Protestant missionary upon the island, who died in 1857. It is said that M. Moerenhout, the former Belgian and American consul at Papeete, in his work upon Tahiti, availed
himself largely of this manuscript, which has also been translated into Swedish.
Mr. Howe spoke highly of the liberality of the present Governor, M. Saisset, as compared with the intolerance displayed by his predecessors, with respect to celebrating Protestant worship. Then, he told us, he was not permitted to preach elsewhere than in his chapel, and then only in English, whereas now he can perform religious service in other districts whenever the natives request him to do so. Moreover, in the dissemination of religious tracts and books of prayer, there is much more relaxation than formerly, and during the last tour of inspection of the Governor, that gentleman himself took with him 500 copies of a translation of the Bible, for distribution among the Protestant natives of the districts he was about to visit. The want of elementary religious books in the interior was so great, that even Catholic teachers had to sue for some, preferring Protestant Bibles to having none at all.
Although Mr. Howe is the only one of the fourteen missionaries once resident here to whom permission was accorded to remain behind on the island, there are nevertheless a great number of native teachers who preach and celebrate worship on the Sunday. The Canakas,[72] as it is the custom to call the natives, on such occasions bring with them to the chapel their Bibles and little hymn-books in a small