this process; the table was laid out. A straw
mat having been spread on the ground, large
leaves, intended to serve as plates, were placed
upon it. As a drinking cup, each guest was
furnished with a cocoa-nut shell; half filled
with a sort of acid beverage called Miti.

In about an hour-and-a-half supper was
announced to be ready; and though the pig
was not prepared in the most tempting style,
yet it was consumed with inconceivable rapidity.
By the help of a single knife the pig
was divided into as many portions as there
were individuals to partake of it; and each
one was helped to his or her share, together
with half a bread-fruit, placed on a leaf.
Excepting the French officer, old Tati, his
wife, and myself, no one sat down at the
rustic table; it being inconsistent with the
customs of the country for the host to eat
with his guests, or a child with his parent.

On our arrival at Papara, we were informed
of the death of one of Tati's sons.
The event had taken place a few days previously,
but the funeral was deferred until
the arrival of the aged chief. I visited the
hut, and the attendants gave me a new pocket
handkerchief, directing me to offer it as a
present to the departed. This custom of
offering presents to the dead, is still kept
up by the Tahitians—even those among them
who have become converts to Christianity.
The body lay in a coffin, resting on a low
bier; both coffin and bier were overspread
with a sort of white paint or lacker. Before
the bier two straw mats were spread. On
one of these mats were placed all the clothes,
drinking-cups, knives, &c., which had belonged
to the deceased. On the other lay a vast
collection of presents, consisting of shirts,
pareos, handkerchiefs, bits of cloth, &c.

I attended the ceremony of the interment.
The priest delivered a short oration over the
grave, and when the coffin was lowered, the
mats, the straw hat, and the clothes of the
deceased, together with some of the presents,
were thrown into the grave. In the vicinity of
the place of interment there were some ancient
Indian tombs called Murais. They were quadrangular
spaces surrounded by stonewalls four
or five feet high. Within the Murai or quadrangle,
the corpse used to be laid, resting on a
wooden framework. There it was left until
nothing remained but the skeleton, which was
afterwards buried in some sequestered spot.

After my return from Papara, I made a
visit to Venus Point, a little tongue of land,
on which Captain Cook stationed himself to
observe the transit of Venus over the sun's
disk. The stone on which his telescope was
fixed is still on the spot where it then was.

One of my most interesting excursions
was to Fontana and the Diadem. Fontana is
a point which the Tahitians considered to be
impregnable, and where, nevertheless, they
sustained the most signal defeat by the
French during the last war. Governor
Brouat obligingly lent me his horse to make
this excursion, and he sent with me as a
guide a sub-officer, who had been engaged in
the action, and who explained to me the
positions and movements of the hostile forces.

For the space of six miles I rode through
thick forests and deep ravines, intersected by
mountain torrents.  In many parts of these
ravines, extremely narrow passes are flanked
on either side by steep and inaccessible mountains;
so that here, as in ancient Thermopylae,
a small band of brave warriors were enabled
to keep at bay a strong and numerous army.
The defiles of Fontana may be said to be the
key to the whole island. During the late
war Fontana was the principal stronghold of
the Tahitians, and the only mode by which
the French could hope to carry the important
position was by climbing up an almost perpendicular
precipice, and thereby reaching
a narrow ridge near the summit. General
Brouat announced his wish that this dangerous
enterprise should be entrusted only to volunteers;
and sixty-two men were selected from
the very considerable number who eagerly
offered themselves. After twelve hours of
difficult and perilous exertion, the gallant
adventurers at length gained the summit. As
soon as they appeared in sight, the dismayed
Indians threw down their arms, exclaiming,
"These are not men, for that steep acclivity is
inaccessible to mortal footsteps. They must be
spirits; therefore let us surrender, for it is
needless to attempt defence."

At Fontana, a little fort, surmounted by a
watch-tower, has been built. It is reached by
a footpath running along a narrow mountain
ridge, beneath which yawns a chasm of
unfathomable depth. For persons liable to
vertigo, it would be dangerous to attempt to
walk along this path, which, however, commands
a magnificent prospect over the surrounding
country. Mountains, valleys, ravines
and waterfalls diversify the romantic scene;
and high above every other object in the
landscape towers the Diadem. I reached that
colossal mass of rock after a three hours' ride
along a very difficult road. The prospect from
the Diadem is still grander than that from the
fort, extending in two directions, far beyond
the boundaries of the island, and to some
distance over the sea.

This was my last excursion in the lovely
island of Tahiti.

CHIPS.

A DISAPPEARANCE.

A CORRESPONDENT has favoured us with the
sequel of the disappearance of the pupil of
Dr. G., who vanished from North Shields, in
charge of certain potions he was entrusted
with, very early one morning, to convey to a
patient. Referring to page 249 of a recent
number of " Household Words," she says:

"Dr. G.'s son married my sister, and the
young man who disappeared was a pupil
in the house. When he went out with the