ales, till the King of Day burst upon our sight in
all his splendour, arraying the luxuriant landscape of the shore in
still more enchanting beauty. Among the thickets of fruit-trees were
seen the dwellings of the happy inhabitants of this great
pleasure-ground, built of bamboos, and covered with large leaves,
standing each in its little garden; but, to our great astonishment, the
stillness of death reigned among them; and even when the sun stood high
in the heavens, no one was to be seen.

The warm friendships formed but yesterday seemed already to have cooled;
we were quite forgotten. At length we obtained from the boat, sent off
to us at break of day with provisions, an explanation of this enigma.
The inhabitants of Tahaiti were celebrating the Sunday, on which account
they did not leave their houses, where they lay on their bellies reading
the Bible and howling aloud; laying aside every species of occupation,
they devoted, as they said, the whole day to prayer. According to our
reckoning, the day was Saturday. This difference proceeded from the
first Missionaries having reached Tahaiti from the west by the way of
New Holland, while we had come eastward by Cape Horn.

I resolved to go ashore and pay a visit to Mr. Wilson, that I might
procure, through his means, a convenient place for our astronomical
observations. We landed at the point of the Cape, because the shade of a
thick palm grove there offered us immediate protection. No one received
us on the strand; no human being, not even a dog, was visible. The very
birds seemed here to celebrate the Sunday by silence, unless, indeed, it
was somewhat too hot for singing. A little brook, meandering among
shrubs and flowers, alone took the liberty of mingling its murmurs with
the devotions of the Tahaitians. I sauntered along a narrow trodden path
under the shade of palms, bananas, orange, and lemon-trees, inhaling
their fragrance, and delighting in the luxuriance of nature. Though
beautiful as this country is, it does not equal Brazil in the variety of
its productions, and in the numbers of its humming-birds and
butterflies. The loud prayer of the Tahaitian Christians reached my
ears, as I approached their habitations. All the doors were closed, and
not even the children allowed to enjoy the beauty of the morning.

The small but pleasant house of the Missionary, built after the
European fashion, stands in the midst of a kitchen-garden richly
provided with all kinds of