there was an article that I was very glad to see; it was a large quarto English Bible, with numerous coloured engravings, which were the only objects of attraction with the natives. I was told it belonged to Paari, or Mai, and hope it was given him among the presents from England, although no mention whatever is made of a Bible, or any other book, among the various articles enumerated by those who conveyed him to his native shores. Within the limits of the grant made to Captain Cook for his friend Mai, some of the Missionaries, who in 1809 took shelter in Huahine, after their expulsion from Tahiti in 1808, erected their temporary habitations. A few yards distant from the spot in which Mai's house stood, and immediately in front of the dark and glossyleaved shaddock-tree planted by Captain Cook, the first building for the worship of Jehovah was erected; and on the same spot, the first school in Huahine was opened, in which the use of letters, and the principles of religion, were inculcated. Nearly in front of the site of Mai's dwelling now stands the residence of Pohuetea and Teraimano, to whom by right of patrimony Beritani belongs. It was, when I was last there, in 1824, one of the most neat, substantial, and convenient modern houses in the settlement, containing two stories, and eight apartments. The district around, which when we arrived was altogether uncultivated, and overrun with brushwood growing in wild luxuriance, has been cleared; the garden has been again enclosed, and planted with all that is useful in the vegetable productions of tropical regions. It is cultivated by its proprietors, who, there is reason to hope, are decided Christians. They erected, within the precincts of their garden, a beautiful but rustic little summer-house or cottage, which they call a fare bure huna, or house for hidden prayer. I one day visited this garden, a few weeks after it had been enclosed and stocked with the most valuable indigenous plants of the islands. Towering above the plantains, papaws, &c. the shaddock planted by Captain Cook appeared, like an inhabitant of another country, in solitary exile; for though the climate is similar in point of temperature to that in which it is accustomed to thrive, its shoots are not long and igorous, its leaves are not so clear, dark, and glossy as those of the other plants, and the fruit, though large and abundant, falls prematurely to the ground. After wandering some time among the clustering sugarcane, rows of pine-apples, plantains, and bananas, I approached this house for private devotion. A narrow path covered with sand and anaana, or branches of coral, led to the entrance. An elegant hibiscus spread its branches over the cottage, and threw its embowering shade on its rude and lowly roof. A native palm-leaf mat covered the earthen floor,-a rustic seat, a table standing by a little open window, with a portion of the Scripture, and a hymn-book in the native language, constituted its only furniture. The stillness of every thing around, the secluded retirement of the spot, and the diversified objects of nature with which it was associated, seemed delightfully adapted contemplation and devotion. The scene was one of diversified beauty, and the only sounds were those occasioned by the rustling among the sugarcanes, or the luxuriant and broad-leaved plantains, while the passing breezes swept gently through them. to I naturally inferred that the house was appropriated to purposes of secret devotion; and meeting its proprietor, I asked its use. He informed me that it was devoted to that object, and spoke with apparent satisfaction of the happiness he enjoyed in the retirement it afforded. The erection of their dwelling, culture of their garden, building the house for hidden prayer, &c. (the labours of the present proprietors of Beritani,) are very different from the erection of a boarded house merely as a fortress, in which are deposited, as the most valued treasures of its inhabitant, arms and ammunition. It does not appear that Mai's house was designed as a model by which the natives were to be encouraged to build their own, but a place of security for the property, which he was recommended to enclose with a spacious native building: and the pursuits of its present occupants are in delightful contrast with the childish exhibition of fireworks, or the display of those trinkets, by which it was endeavoured to impress the minds of the natives with ideas of English superiority over untutored barbarians. The events which have since transpired were but little anticipated by the distinguished navigator, who conducted this simple-hearted native from one end of the globe to the other, spared no pains to promote his welfare and comfort, and who, although mistaken in the means he employed, undoubtedly aimed at the prosperity of the interesting people whom he had introduced to the notice of the civilized world. Visiting almost daily the spot, and living in habits of intercourse with the successors of Mai, I have been often led to compare the views and circumstances of the present inhabitants of Beritani with those of the resident originally left there by its discoverer; and in connexion with the circumstances of Mai after his return to his native islands, the following beautiful and pathetic lines have often occurred to my mind; and though perused on the spot with sensations probably unfelt elsewhere, I have nevertheless supposed, that could the poet have foreseen what has since taken place, not only in this island, but throughout the group-or had he lived in the present day—he would never, in anticipation of their abandonment so soon after their discovery, have recorded such mournful anticipations. "But far beyond the rest, and with most cause, Or thine, but curiosity perhaps, Or else vain-glory, prompted us to draw Forth from thy native bowers, to shew thee here With what superior skill we can abuse The gifts of Providence, and squander life. The dream is past. And thou hast found again Thy cocoas and bananas, palms and yams, And homestall thatched with leaves. But hast thou found Their former charms? And having seen our state, Our palaces, our ladies, and our pomp Of equipage, our gardens, and our sports, I cannot think thee yet so dull of heart And spiritless, as never to regret Sweets tasted here, and left as soon as known. Methinks I see thee straying on the beach, And asking of the surge that bathes thy foot, * Omai If ever it has wash'd our distant shore. We travel far, 'tis true, but not for nought; By other hopes, and richer fruits, than yours." In the visit of Mai, the experiment, in reference to the effect of refinement, civilization, and philosophy upon the ignorant and uncivilized, was tried under circumstances the most favourable for producing sympathy in one party, and impression on the other :-the result was most affecting. The individual who had been brought from the ends of the earth, and shewn whatever England could furnish, adapted to impress his wondering mind, returned, and became as rude and indolent a barbarian as before. With one solitary exception, the humanizing and elevating principles of the Bible had never been presented to his notice, and he appeared to have derived no benefit from his voyage. Well might the poet lament his fate. But the ship Duff had not sailed, and the spirit of Missionary enterprise was not aroused in the British churches. Institutions, the ornament and the glory of our country, had not arisen. The schoolmaster was not abroad in the earth, |