On the following morning we were greeted by the sun from a cloudless sky, with a most superb illumination of the country opposite to his rising. His rays glittering on the mountain-tops before they reached our horizon, gradually enlivened the variegated green that clothed their sides down to the vales, till the King of Day burst upon our sight in all his splendour, arraying the luxuriant landscape of the shore in still more enchanting beauty. Among the thickets of fruit-trees were seen the dwellings of the happy inhabitants of this great pleasure-ground, built of bamboos, and covered with large leaves, standing each in its little garden; but, to our great astonishment, the stillness of death reigned among them; and even when the sun stood high in the heavens, no one was to be seen. The warm friendships formed but yesterday seemed already to have cooled; we were quite forgotten. At length we obtained from the boat, sent off to us at break of day with provisions, an explanation of this enigma. The inhabitants of Tahaiti were celebrating the Sunday, on which account they did not leave their houses, where they lay on their bellies reading the Bible and howling aloud; laying aside every species of occupation, they devoted, as they said, the whole day to prayer. According to our reckoning, the day was Saturday. This difference proceeded from the first Missionaries having reached Tahaiti from the west by the way of New Holland, while we had come eastward by Cape Horn. I resolved to go ashore and pay a visit to Mr. Wilson, that I might procure, through his means, a convenient place for our astronomical observations. We landed at the point of the Cape, because the shade of a thick palm grove there offered us immediate protection. No one received us on the strand; no human being, not even a dog, was visible. The very birds seemed here to celebrate the Sunday by silence, unless, indeed, it was somewhat too hot for singing. A little brook, meandering among shrubs and flowers, alone took the liberty of mingling its murmurs with the devotions of the Tahaitians. I sauntered along a narrow trodden path under the shade of palms, bananas, orange, and lemon-trees, inhaling their fragrance, and delighting in the luxuriance of nature. Though beautiful as this country is, it does not equal Brazil in the variety of its productions, and in the numbers of its humming-birds and butterflies. The loud prayer of the Tahaitian Christians reached my ears, as I approached their habitations. All the doors were closed, and not even the children allowed to enjoy the beauty of the morning. The small but pleasant house of the Missionary, built after the European fashion, stands in the midst of a kitchen-garden richly provided with all kinds of European vegetables.