cover. They were between fifty and sixty feet long, made with much care and some attempt at ornamentation, certain parts of the woodwork being inlaid with pearl. They were double canoes, that is, two were joined together by stout cross-pieces of such length that the two canoes were several feet apart. The bow of either canoe was opposite the stern of the other. When used under sail, the sail is set on the lee canoe, while the passengers and freight are in the weather one; and, if it be necessary to tack ship, the masts and sails are shifted to the other canoe, and passengers and cargo transferred accordingly. The natives use these vessels for crossing from Manihiki to the neighboring island, some forty miles distant. This journey, I believe, is not often made, and only attempted under favorable winds, as these canoes are not adapted to beating to windward. It has happened twice within a few years that parties have been blown or currented off while making this journey. Once, previous to the visit herein described, a party of men and women, unable to gain the land, were drifted off, and, after floating several weeks, landed upon an uninhabited island about one thousand miles distant. Here they subsisted on the few cocoanuts they found until they were taken off by a passing vessel, and carried. to the Samoan Islands, whence they were, in time, returned to their native home. Some of these survivors we saw at the time of our visit.

Another party, in 1861, were currented off in a similar manner; and, after eight weeks of untold suffering, those who survived landed upon an inhabited island fourteen hundred miles west of their own. There they remained five months, until taken off by the Missionary packet, a vessel devoted to the service of the London Missionary Society. The Chronicle, relating this, adds the interesting fact, that among the survivors of this party were several converts, one of them a deacon of the church on his native island. They had their Bibles with them. Finding that the in

habitants of the island to which they had come had never received a Christian teacher, or any instruction whatever, they began at once to teach them to read, and to preach to them the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and so prepared the way for further missionary effort after their departure.

When we had finished our walk, the missionary took us to his own house. This was a large stone building, divided into three apartments, of which the middle one was the general reception-room. The floor was covered by mats, and several roughly made tables and seats composed the furniture. On one table was a number of books, chiefly Bibles, hymn-books, and primers. These books were, I believe, in the language of Raratonga, possibly modified to suit the dialect of the islanders. We were told that all the inhabitants could read, and many could write. All possess Bibles and hymn-books, slates and pencils. All the children attend school, and receive instruction in reading, writing, and arithmetic. The church is regularly organized, and comprises more than a hundred members, and many, if not all, the remaining adults are what are termed "class members." The entire population may be said to have embraced Christianity. A report in the Chronicle of date subsequent to that of this visit states that the islanders of Manihiki had paid more than fifteen pounds for Bibles and books for their own use, and contributed more than ten pounds for missionary work elsewhere, and that four young men, natives of Manihiki, were going to Raratonga to study and qualify themselves as religious teachers among other islanders.

While still with the missionary, a messenger came from the king to invite us to supper with the "royal family." We obeyed immediately.. We found our host seated alone behind his table, on which the feast was spread. Cocoa; nuts were of course in abundance, and flying - fish, partially baked, were not uninviting; but the glory of the occasion was a chicken that had been sacrificed for our good. The king did the honors

gracefully, and seemed much pleased with our expressions of satisfaction. Meantime the queen and princess royal sat on the floor, surrounded by many people of various degrees of distinction, and all much interested in watching the strangers.

This entertainment was scarcely over, when the missionary sent for us to return to his house, where, to our surprise, we found a second repast prepared in much the same style, and a larger congregation of natives assembled to witness our disposal of it. We did all that men of our capacity could, but, unhappily, failed to do full justice to our host's hospitality.

As the evening wore away, and we began to think of bed, we heard a remarkable noise in the street. It was the beating of the Rap Tap. This instrument, as I afterwards discovered, was a piece of wood twelve or fifteen inches long, and three or four thick, hollowed out like a trough, so that, when beaten, it gave a dull, ringing sound. One man, with two attendants, marched through the village, beating this at short intervals, and following the beating, first with a distressing screech, and then a short proclamation to the effect that bed-time had come, and warning all against being found out of doors or with lights burning thereafter. The missionary informed us that this was a very strict rule, and any one offending against it was liable to fine or punishment. He accordingly showed us places to sleep in an adjoining apart ment, giving us very comfortable mats for beds, and then bade us good night. A few minutes later, quiet reigned throughout the entire community.

We had learned that the inhabitants of the island, numbering altogether four or five hundred, were divided into two communities, one of which lived in a village similar to this on the other side of the lagoon. We were also told that with this other community were living two white men, who had been on the island several months. A messenger had been sent to these foreigners to report our visit, and in the morn

ing they both made their appearance. They were delighted to see us, and welcomed an opportunity to get away from the island; they lost no time in making known their desire to go with us under any conditions, and to be left anywhere, only asking to be taken away. The reason for this soon became apparent.

Of these two men, one was an Englishman, forty or fifty years of age, and the other an American not over twenty-five. The former had been left on the island about seven months before by a trading-vessel that had called in search of pearls. The American had belonged to the crew of a little vessel that had touched there four months before, on her way from San Francisco to Tahiti; and he, hoping to enjoy an indolent and lawless life among the islanders, had deserted the vessel.

The Englishman, it appeared, had lived for many years by vagrancy. He had wandered all over the Pacific Ocean, and had either visited or lived upon a large number of its islands. It is not improbable that he was an escaped convict, and so, partly from choice, partly from necessity, preferred to spend his life beyond the reach of law. In this way the vagabond had spent a few months, or possibly years, on one island, and then, having exhausted the novelties of the place, and made himself odious to the people, had succeeded, by means of some passing whaler or other vessel, in reaching another, and then another, and so on until he had brought up where we found him, in a very unhappy condition, and ready for still another island. The American was a stout and hearty but demoralized youth, who had chosen to enter upon the same career, but had made what he considered an unhappy beginning on an island and among a people where he felt the rigors of the law in a degree he had never before dreamed of.

They gave a long account of their experience among the people; and their statements, though necessarily to be taken with many grains of allowance, furnished some information concerning

the native character and social condition. The missionary, they said, had been there about ten years, and was not only the religious teacher, but had become the lawgiver. The king and chiefs, who were the ostensible rulers, were entirely under his influence, and did nothing without his approval. The laws, which were rigidly enforced, had been framed by the missionary; they were based generally upon the precepts taught by the English missionaries at Raratonga, and included what additional light he could get from the Mosaic code.

No wonder that a couple of first-class vagabonds, who had felt the inconvenience of law at home, and who were seeking a place where neither Law nor Gospel had ever been heard of, found themselves in very unpleasant circumstances under such an administration.

When they had first come, they were kindly and hospitably received. They were regarded as the representatives of a superior race, and hailed as residents with delight. Everybody was happy to do them a service. They were welcome guests in any house, and were provided with plenty of cocoanuts and fish without even the labor of helping themselves. But after a time the lustre of their superiority began to wear off. Their laziness and worthlessness were properly appreciated, and their various sins of omission and commission, which, at first, had been allowed to pass unnoticed, now gave offence, and the offenders were held responsible at law, precisely as any other member of the community. It was then they began to realize that the way of transgressors is hard.

Whether the missionary had given the islanders a regularly written code, or not, I cannot say; but a few of their regulations will indicate how far their daily walk and conversation were affected by the system of laws.

Absence from church, unless for a satisfactory reason, was a punishable offence. Men were forbidden to smoke on Sunday, and women at any time. Walking out on Sunday was against

law. Women were fined for appearing at church without bonnets. (And such bonnets! for some good Christian ladies in London, thinking perhaps, that, next to a new heart, a benighted woman would most need a new bonnet, had sent out a lot of the drollest-fashioned, high-peaked straw bonnets for the poor things to wear. And I will take advantage of this parenthesis to add, that the same considerate people had sent a full suit of black broadcloth, with a black cylinder hat, for the missionary to wear when discharging the duties of his office. As these clothes were wholly unlike those in common use, he had come to regard them somewhat as robes of office, and to put them on as a priest puts on the sacred vestments; and it is truly ludicrous to fancy him, as described by the white men, on semiofficial occasions, when, in addition to his simple native garments, he would, according to his estimate of the importance of the event, wear now the coat, or the vest, or, perhaps, only the hat alone.) Anything like musical instruments were forbidden, because, I suppose, only associated with dancing. Singing songs which were not in the hymn-book was likewise forbidden. Every member of the community, from the king to the youngest child able to talk, was obliged to recite a verse of Scripture every Sunday, and, in default thereof, was held liable to a fine.

Fines are the usual punishment for offences; and, if their system of laws is peculiar, that of the fines is more so. It seems to have been based on the doctrine, that he that offends in one point of the law is guilty of all; and, further, that, as the second violation of a law is a greater crime than the first offence, the enormity of the sin is measured only by the number of times that the sinner has offended. Whatever the theory, the fact appeared to be, that the first violation of law was punished by a certain fine, the second offence by double the first fine, the third offence, no matter what, whether smoking, dancing, or adultery, by double the second fine, and so on in geometrical progression.

The fines were usually levied in calico, for, as the labor of the people is generally paid in that article, it has become the currency of the country. The unit is one fathom of calico, and is considered the equivalent of fifty cents. Values are expressed in fathoms, and a ten-dollar coin is accordingly a twentyfathom piece. The fine for the first violation of law is five fathoms; and, according to the foregoing, that of the second, third, or fourth offence is ten, twenty, or forty fathoms. I was told that persons had been fined even one thousand fathoms and over. I naturally inquired what became of all the calico that must from time to time be forfeited by offenders, and was told that all fines were paid over to the "Council," consisting of the king, chief men, and the missionary, who made distribution thereof for the public good or their own; that sometimes fines were paid in pigs, fowls, or cocoanuts, and that this provision was appropriated for refreshments at the meetings of the "Council," and that, when the delinquents and their friends had no more wherewith to pay, the sentence was convertible into work upon the road or public buildings.

Now, as may readily be supposed, our two foreign friends had brought but a small supply of dry goods or any other goods to the island; and, when they became subject to law, a very brief career in vice brought them to the end of their calico. The very first fine exhausted their stock, and took their extra shirts and pants besides; and the Englishman could find no words to express his deep sense of the injustice done him, when the "Council," having taken everything else of the calico kind from him, finally laid out in one straight line his sea-chest, shot-gun, pocketrevolver, straw hat, tobacco-box, pipe, and other personal property, and took them calico measure, fathom per fathom, in payment of a fine.

This, at the moment, had been too much for him, and he had attempted resistance, but soon found that worse than useless, for it increased his punishment, which was now converted into

work upon the public way, and, at the time of our arrival, both men were under sentence to build an almost incredible number of fathoms of road. Truly the lines had fallen to them in unpleasant places. Much of the foregoing, it must be remembered, is given as the statement of the two white men, who could hardly be expected to be unprejudiced witnesses; but I subsequently had occasion to learn from an intelligent man, who, in connection with the business, before referred to, of making cocoanutoil, had seen much of these people, that the statements were in the main correct, and, as far as they go, fairly indicate some of the first results of the influences of civilization and the teaching of Christian missionaries among this simplest of all simple folk.

The missionary, who was himself a convert from heathenism, himself instructed in and teaching them from a Bible which, owing to the extreme poverty of their language, must have been a very deficient translation, may have been able to give but very imperfect ideas of Christian doctrines, and of their application to the every-day life and conduct of believers; but he was, I think, a sincere and conscientious man, and honestly gave them such light as he had, imparting to them what he had himself received. Having been their first teacher, and having instructed them in the new religion, he was naturally looked to for guidance and direction in other matters, and so became their Lawgiver.

We spent the following day or two on the island. The schooner arrived, and came to anchor, opposite the village, though not until her apprehensive captain had positively assured himself that we had not been eaten up on the first night of our absence.

Trade for fowls and cocoanuts was opened, and was carried on in the presence of the king and missionary, their approval being necessary for each transaction. We found occasion to visit the village on the other side of the lagoon, where we found a state of affairs precisely similar to that with which we had

already become acquainted. We looked into the church, and found the interior furnished with rather roughly made benches or seats, arranged like pews in an ordinary meeting-house among us. At one end was a high pulpit, reached by steps. The wood-work was ornamented by inlaid pearl. Before the pulpit was a table, where, the white men said, the sacrament was administered monthly. What was used as a substitute for bread and wine in this service I could not learn; but if anything other than cocoanut and water, it must have been imported for the purpose.

On the evening of the second day I had an interesting experience. Among my first acquaintances on the island were two young men who had enjoyed unusual advantages for seeing the world. A year or two previous a whale-ship had called there in passing, whose captain had induced these two youths to join the vessel in a cruise for a year, with the condition that they should be returned at the end of the time. They had accordingly spent one year in the forecastle of this ship, and had acquired a good deal of such knowledge as the associations of the place furnished and their limited capacity enabled them to receive. They came back as travelled men. They could speak a few words of English, and this accomplishment, combined with their comparatively wider experience, made them important members of society. One was called John Allen (possibly the name of the ship), the other was Jeremiah. The latter had married the king's daughter, and John was also connected with some of the first families on the island. John and Jeremiah lived together with their families. They invited me to spend our second night at their house, and I having promised to do so, they asked a number of their aristocratic connections to meet me there in the evening "very sociably." On arriving, I found fifteen or twenty people besides the usual members of the household. The first part of the entertainment was provided in the shape of a roasted chicken and two NO. 129. 4

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boiled eggs, which I was desired to eat while the host and the other guests looked on. As the chicken was small and the eggs fresh, I found this a commendable arrangement. After the cloth was removed, the company found great entertainment in asking me as many and various questions as John and Jeremiah, with their small stock of words and ideas, could put into English. Then slates and pencils were introduced, and I was desired to write my name, the name of our vessel, where we came from, and so forth, all of which was very carefully imitated by my observers. They were desirous that I should sing for them, but I was obliged to excuse myself; and, on returning the compliment by asking them for a song, John replied that I should hear them "bimeby." This was soon explained. eight o'clock the Rap Tap sounded, and immediately all guests left the house to go to their own. When quiet was restored, John took two hymn-books and a Bible from the shelf, and, giving one hymn-book to Jeremiah, the two led off in a hymn, the rest of the family following. The words, of course, were native; and such, I judge, may have been the music, as there was no semblance of a tune. When this was concluded, John read a chapter from the Bible; and then, all kneeling down, he offered up the evening prayer.

At

After this there was a brief interval, during which preparations for the night's rest were made. A wooden bench or couch, covered by a mat, was appropriated to my use. The rest of the people spread their mats on the floor. John's father and mother occupied one corner. The young children lay in another corner. John and his wife took the corner nearest to me, and Jeremiah and his wife were crowded out, and so lay on their mats just outside the house, under the projecting eaves. In a few minutes everybody was asleep.

As I lay down for the night, I could but think of the position of the two white men among these people. This quiet scene of family worship, and the social and religious conditions which