On my return to Papara, I found that Tati’s son was not buried, but the ceremony took place the next day.  The clergyman pronounced a short discourse at the side of the grave; and, as the coffin was being lowered, the mats, straw hat, and clothes of the deceased, as well as a few of the presents, were thrown in with it.  The relations were present, but as unconcerned as I was myself.

The graveyard was in the immediate vicinity of several murais.  The latter are small four-cornered plots of ground surrounded by stone walls three or four feet high, where the natives used to deposit their dead, which were left exposed upon wooden frames until the flesh fell from the bones.  These were then collected and buried in some lonely spot.

The same evening I witnessed a remarkable mode of catching fish.  Two boys waded out into the sea, one with a stick, and the other with a quantity of burning chips.  The one with the stick drove the fish between the rocks, and then hit them, the other lighting him in the meanwhile.  They were not very fortunate, however.  The more common and successful manner of fishing is with nets.

Almost every day Monsieur —–­ had visits from officers who were passing, accompanied by their mistresses.  The reader may easily imagine that the laws of propriety were not, however, always strictly observed, and as I had no desire to disturb the gentlemen in their intellectual conversation and amusement, I retired with my book into the servants’ room.  They, too, would laugh and joke, but, at least, in such a manner that there was no occasion to blush for them.

It was highly amusing to hear Monsieur —–­ launch out in praise of the attachment and gratitude of his Indian beauty; he would have altered his tone had he seen her behaviour in his absence.  On one occasion I could not help telling one of the gentlemen my opinion of the matter, and expressing my astonishment that they could treat these grasping and avaricious creatures with such attention and kindness, to load them with presents, anticipate their every wish, and forgive and put up with their most glaring faults.  The answer I received was:  that these ladies, if not so treated and loaded with presents, would quickly run off, and that, in fact, even by the kindest attentions they never allowed themselves to be influenced very long.

From all I saw, I must repeat my former assertion, that the Tahitian people are endowed with none of the more noble sentiments of humanity, but that their only pleasures are merely animal.  Nature herself encourages them to this in an extraordinary manner.  They have no need to gain their bread by the sweat of their brow; the island is most plentifully supplied with beautiful fruit, tubercles of all descriptions, and tame pigs, so that the people have really only to gather the fruit and kill the pigs.  To this circumstance is to be attributed the difficulty that exists of obtaining any one as servant or in any other capacity.  The most wretched journeyman will not work for less than a dollar a-day; the price for washing a dozen handkerchiefs, or any other articles, is also a dollar (4s.), not including soap.  A native, whom I desired to engage as guide, demanded a dollar and a half a day.