Might be mentioned, it is
sufficient to allude to a virulent disease which now taints the blood
of at least two-thirds of the common people of the island; and, in
some form or other, is transmitted from father to son.
Their first horror and consternation at the earlier ravages of this
scourge were pitiable in the extreme. The very name bestowed upon it
is a combination of all that is horrid and unmentionable to a
civilized being.
Distracted with their sufferings, they brought forth their sick before
the missionaries, when they were preaching, and cried out, "Lies,
lies! you tell us of salvation; and, behold, we are dying. We want no
other salvation than to live in this world. Where are there any saved
through your speech? Pomaree is dead; and we are all dying with your
cursed diseases. When will you give over?"
At present, the virulence of the disorder, in individual cases, has
somewhat abated; but the poison is only the more widely diffused.
"How dreadful and appalling," breaks forth old Wheeler, "the
consideration that the intercourse of distant nations should have
entailed upon these poor, untutored islanders a curse unprecedented,
and unheard of, in the annals of history."
In view of these things, who can remain blind to the fact that, so far
as mere temporal felicity is concerned, the Tahitians are far worse
off now, than formerly; and although their circumstances, upon the
whole, are bettered by the presence of the missionaries, the benefits
conferred by the latter become utterly insignificant when confronted
with the vast preponderance of evil brought about by other means.
Their prospects are hopeless. Nor can the most devoted efforts now
exempt them from furnishing a marked illustration of a principle
which history has always exemplified. Years ago brought to a stand,
where all that is corrupt in barbarism and civilization unite, to the
exclusion of the virtues of either state; like other uncivilized
beings, brought into contact with Europeans, they must here remain
stationary until utterly extinct.
The islanders themselves are mournfully watching their doom.
Several years since, Pomaree II. said to Tyreman and Bennet, the
deputies of the London Missionary Society, "You have come to see me
at a very bad time. Your ancestors came in the time of men, when
Tahiti was inhabited: you are come to behold just the remnant of my
people."
Of like import was the prediction of Teearmoar, the high-priest of
Paree; who lived over a hundred years ago. I have frequently heard it
chanted, in a low, sad tone, by aged Tahitiana: -
"A harree ta fow,
A toro ta farraro,
A now ta tararta."
"The palm-tree shall grow,
The coral shall spread,
But man shall cease."
CHAPTER L.
SOMETHING HAPPENS TO LONG GHOST
WE will now return to the narrative.
The day before the Julia sailed, Dr. Johnson paid his last call.
