of native settees, bottomed with crossed braids of the cocoa-nut
fibre, and furnished with backs.

But the pulpit, made of a dark, lustrous wood, and standing at one
end, is by far the most striking object. It is preposterously lofty;
indeed, a capital bird's-eye view of the congregation ought to be had
from its summit.

Nor does the church lack a gallery, which runs round on three sides,
and is supported by columns of the cocoa-nut tree.

Its facings are here and there daubed over with a tawdry blue; and in
other places (without the slightest regard to uniformity), patches of
the same colour may be seen. In their ardour to decorate the
sanctuary, the converts must have borrowed each a brush full of
paint, and zealously daubed away at the first surface that offered.

As hinted, the general impression is extremely curious. Little light
being admitted, and everything being of a dark colour, there is an
indefinable Indian aspect of duskiness throughout. A strange, woody
smell, also--more or less pervading every considerable edifice in
Polynesia--is at once perceptible. It suggests the idea of worm-eaten
idols packed away in some old lumber-room at hand.

For the most part, the congregation attending this church is composed
of the better and wealthier orders--the chiefs and their retainers;
in short, the rank and fashion of the island. This class is
infinitely superior in personal beauty and general healthfulness to
the "marenhoar," or common people; the latter having been more
exposed to the worst and most debasing evils of foreign intercourse.