Frequently
turning up their noses at the advent of a new cotton mantle recently
imported in the chest of some amorous sailor. Upon one occasion, I
observed a group of young girls, in tunics of course, soiled
sheeting, disdainfully pointing at a damsel in a flaming red one.
"Oee tootai owree!" said they with ineffable scorn, "itai maitai!"
(You are a good-for-nothing huzzy, no better than you should be).
Now, Kooloo communed with the church; so did all these censorious
young ladies. Yet after eating bread-fruit at the Eucharist, I knew
several of them, the same night, to be guilty of some sad
derelictions.
Puzzled by these things, I resolved to find out, if possible, what
ideas, if any, they entertained of religion; but as one's spiritual
concerns are rather delicate for a stranger to meddle with, I went to
work as adroitly as I could.
Farnow, an old native who had recently retired from active pursuits,
having thrown up the business of being a sort of running footman to
the queen, had settled down in a snug little retreat, not fifty rods
from Captain Bob's. His selecting our vicinity for his residence may
have been with some view to the advantages it afforded for
introducing his three daughters into polite circles. At any rate, not
averse to receiving the attentions of so devoted a gallant as the
doctor, the sisters (communicants, be it remembered) kindly extended
to him free permission to visit them sociably whenever he pleased.
We dropped in one evening, and found the ladies at home. My long
friend engaged his favourites, the two younger girls, at the game of
"Now," or hunting a stone under three piles of tappa. For myself, I
lounged on a mat with Ideea the eldest, dallying with her grass fan,
and improving my knowledge of Tahitian.
The occasion was well adapted to my purpose, and I began.
"Ah, Ideea, mickonaree oee?" the same as drawling out - "By the bye,
Miss Ideea, do you belong to the church?"
"Yes, me mickonaree," was the reply.
But the assertion was at once qualified by certain, reservations; so
curious that I cannot forbear their relation.
"Mickonaree ena" (church member here), exclaimed she, laying her hand
upon her mouth, and a strong emphasis on the adverb. In the same way,
and with similar exclamations, she touched her eyes and hands. This
done, her whole air changed in an instant; and she gave me to
understand, by unmistakable gestures, that in certain other respects
she was not exactly a "mickonaree." In short, Ideea was
"A sad good Christian at the heart - A very heathen in the carnal
part."
The explanation terminated in a burst of laughter, in which all three
sisters joined; and for fear of looking silly, the doctor and myself.
As soon as good-breeding would permit, we took leave.
The hypocrisy in matters of religion, so apparent in all Polynesian
converts, is most injudiciously nourished in Tahiti by a zealous and
in many cases, a coercive superintendence over their spiritual
well-being.
