,«
says De Bougainville, »I thought I was walking in the Garden of Eden.«
    Nor, when first discovered, did the inhabitants of this charming country at
all diminish the wonder and admiration of the voyager. Their physical beauty and
amiable dispositions harmonised completely with the softness of their clime. In
truth, everything about them was calculated to awaken the liveliest interest.
Glance at their civil and religious institutions. To their king, divine rights
were paid; while, for poetry, their mythology rivalled that of ancient Greece.
    Of Tahiti, earlier and more full accounts were given, than of any other
island in Polynesia; and this is the reason why it still retains so strong a
hold on the sympathies of all readers of South Sea voyages. The journals of its
first visitors, containing, as they did, such romantic descriptions of a country
and people before unheard of, produced a marked sensation throughout Europe; and
when the first Tahitians were carried thither, Omai in London, and Aotooroo in
Paris, were caressed by nobles, scholars, and ladies.
    In addition to all this, several eventful occurrences, more or less
connected with Tahiti, have tended to increase its celebrity. Over two centuries
ago, Quiros, the Spaniard, is supposed to have touched at the island; and, at
intervals, Wallis, Byron, Cook, De Bougainville, Vancouver, Le Pérouse, and
other illustrious navigators refitted their vessels in its harbours. Here the
famous Transit of Venus was observed in 1769. Here the memorable mutiny of the
Bounty afterwards had its origin. It was to the pagans of Tahiti that the first
regularly constituted Protestant missionaries were sent; and from their shores
also have sailed successive missions to the neighbouring islands.
    These, with other events which might be mentioned, have united in keeping up
the first interest which the place awakened; and the recent proceedings of the
French have more than ever called forth the sympathies of the public.
 

                                  Chapter XIX

                         A Surprise - More about Bembo

The sight of the island was right welcome. Going into harbour after a cruise is
always joyous enough, and the sailor is apt to indulge in all sorts of pleasant
anticipations. But to us, the occasion was heightened by many things peculiar to
our situation.
    Since steering for the land, our prospects had been much talked over. By
many it was supposed that, should the captain leave the ship, the crew were no
longer bound by her articles. This was the opinion of our forecastle Cokes;
though, probably, it would not have been sanctioned by the Marine Courts of Law.
At any rate,
