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EASTERN PART OF FA-RE HARBOUR, IN HUAHINE.

in consequence, civilization was advancing with wonderfully rapid strides."

The point referred to by Captain Gambier, is situated at a short distance to the right of the view of Fare, as given in the annexed plate engraved from a sketch taken on the spot by Captain Elliot. It is a delightful spot, and affords an extensive view of the unruffled waters of the bay, and the infant settlement rising on its shores. The figures along the bottom refer to the following buildings: No. 1. The chapel; 2. The residence of Mahine, the chief of the island,-this was the first house with an upper room which the natives erected. No. 3. is placed beneath the schools. 4. Marks the site where our dwelling stood, and that of my coadjutor, Mr. Barff; both these were erected at some distance from the shore, and stood on an elevation at the foot of the mountains forming the boundary of the valley.

Although we always urged the completion of their houses as soon as they could, we were often highly interested in visiting their partially finished dwellings. There is something peculiarly pleasing in watching the process which periodically changes the face of the natural world. The swelling bud-the opening blossom-the expanding leaves-the tiny fruit-formations, as they regularly pass under the eye of the observer, are not less interesting than the bough bending with full-ripe fruit. The process which effects the changes marking the progress from birth to maturity in the animal creation, is not less curious; and at this time we beheld a work advancing which was rapidly transforming the character and habits of a nation, and materially altering even the aspect of the habitable portions of their country. This gave a peculiar interest to the nondescript sort of

dwelling, half native hut, and half European cottage, which many of the people at this time inhabited. They marked the steps, and developed the process, by which they were rising from the rude and cheerless degradation of the one, to the elevation and enjoyment of the other. These sensations were often heightened by our beholding in the neighbourhood of these half-finished houses, the lonely and comfortless hut they had abandoned, and the neatly finished cottage in which the inmates enjoyed a degree of comfort, that, to use their own powerful expression, made them sometimes ready to doubt whether they were the same people who had been contented to inhabit their former dwellings, surrounded by pigs and dogs, and swarms of vermin, while the wind blew over them, and the rain beat upon them.

The greater number of houses, already erected, contain only two or three rooms on one floor, but several of the chiefs have built spacious, and, considering the materials with which they are constructed, substantial habitations, with two stories, and a number of rooms in each, having also some of the windows glazed. Mahine, the king of Huahine, was, we believe, the first native of the South Sea Islands, who finished a house with upper rooms. When done, it was quite a curiosity, or occasion of wonder, among the natives of the Leeward Islands, and multitudes came on purpose to see it. It was built with care, and, considering it as a specimen of native workmanship, was highly creditable to their industry, perseverance, and ingenuity. Many of the natives, especially those who have been native housebuilders, are tolerably good carpenters, and handle tools with facility. They have also been taught to saw

trees into a number of boards, instead of splitting them into two planks, which was their former practice.

The stone in the northern parts of the island is a kind of compact ancient lava, and, though rather hard, is, we think, adapted for buildings. We were desirous to

induce some of the chiefs to attempt the erection of a stone house; but they had no proper tools for preparing the stone, and the labour was also greater than in their present state of civilization they were disposed to undertake. It is not, however, improbable that stone buildings will ultimately supersede the neat, yet, compared with those erected of less perishable materials, temporary dwellings they are now occupying. The coral rock is also more durable than the plaster; and although soft, and easily hewn when first taken out of the sea, it afterwards assumes a degree of hardness which resists the weather for a long series of years. A chapel has been built with this material in the island of Eimeo, and will probably last longer than any yet erected.

When we arrived in Eimeo, Messrs. Hayward and Bicknell were residing in boarded dwellings with chambers, and Mr. Nott, in a house, the walls of which were neatly plastered. The earth in some parts of the islands would probably answer for bricks; and the Missionaries formerly made one or two attempts to prepare them for ovens, &c. but did not succeed. Individuals professing to understand making bricks have once or twice offered to teach the natives; but much as we have wished to possess permanent brick houses for ourselves, or to recommend the natives to prepare such, we are convinced that the labour would be too great, and the failures in burning them too frequent, to allow at present of their being made with advantage,-yet we hope they will follow the

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