On the morning of the 24th of March, we broke up our tent on the Venus Point, left our dwelling-house, and shipped all our instruments and effects. The afternoon was appointed for our departure. The Tahaitians now boarded the ship, bringing as many provisions as they could carry. They expressed great regret at losing us; and, to prove the disinterestedness of their good-will, would accept no presents in return. They unanimously assured us, that of all nations whose ships had visited their island, none pleased them so well as the Russians. They took leave of us with the most cordial embraces, and many of them shed tears. They accompanied us in their canoes to the mouth of the Bay, and were standing out to sea, when a sudden and violent gust of wind forced them to return. The same gust very nearly carried away one of our sails, and the proximity of the land placed us for a minute or two in a critical situation, but the coolness and skill of our officers and men relieved us from the momentary danger. In half an hour the regular trade-wind returned, and with the liveliest wishes for the future welfare of the good Tahaitians, we lost sight of their lovely island. To the remarks concerning them already made, I will add some on their language, from the work on this subject which I have before mentioned. The author says, "The language spoken on most of the islands of the South Sea, and therefore called the Polynesian, may be considered either as primitive, or as related to, and descended from, a common source with the Malay." It is undoubtedly very old, for these people have been from an unknown period separated from all others, and before the arrival of Europeans among them, considered themselves as the whole human race. Although, in comparison with European languages, that of Tahaiti, as belonging to an ignorant and uncultivated people, is necessarily very defective, it perhaps surpasses all others in strength, precision, and simplicity,--in the personal pronouns especially. Its resemblance to the Hebrew, in the conjugation of the verbs, as well as in the roots of some of the words, can easily be proved. Many of the words really appear of Hebrew origin: as for example, _mate_, dead; _mara_, or _maramosa_, bitter; _rapaon_, to heal, &c. The Polynesian language being so widely extended, and spoken by the inhabitants of so many islands, who have little or no intercourse with each other, it naturally branches into many dialects. These are indeed so various, that they cannot readily be recognised as derivatives from the same stock. The principal dialects are,--that spoken in the Sandwich Islands, or the Hawaiian; that of the Marquesas; that of New Zealand; the Tongatabuan, spoken by the inhabitants of the Friendly Islands, and the Tahaitian. All the others, as far as they are known, are more or less related to these.