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I have myself heard many of the Yeris express their displeasure, and the country people, who consider Bengham's religion as the source of all their sufferings, one night set fire to the church: the damage sustained was trifling, and the flames were soon extinguished; but the incendiaries were not discovered. Karemaku is suffering under a confirmed dropsy.
The funeral procession was arranged in the following order: Twelve Yeris, in the national costume, with beautiful coloured feather mantles and helmets, walked first; they were followed by a band of musicians playing the dead-march, and a company of soldiers from the frigate Blond.
Then came the chaplain of the frigate, and with him the missionaries, immediately followed by the coffins in hearses, each drawn by forty Yeris. Directly behind the coffins came the heir to the throne, the brother of the King, a boy about thirteen, dressed in European uniform.
Cook was received, according to King's account, with the greatest respect: the people prostrated themselves before him. He proceeded direct to the old King, and invited him on board his ship. The King immediately consented; but some of the Yeris endeavoured to dissuade him; and the more earnestly Cook pressed his going, the more strenuously they endeavoured to prevent it.
"Here, as on the other South Sea Islands, the Yeris are advantageously distinguished in form from the lower classes, and are seldom disfigured by the swellings and ulcers frequent among the latter, which we ascribed to the great use of salt in their preparations of meat and fish; the former, however, are much injured by immoderate indulgence in the Ava drink.
The missionaries agreed to the terms, took up their residence on Wahu, and from thence extended settlements over the other islands. Their first efforts were successfully directed to the conversion of the King, his family, and the most distinguished Yeris.
It is remarkable that the degenerate Tahaitians are no longer even in person such as they are described by the early travellers. Their religion appears to have had an effect inimical to their beauty. The large-grown Yeris, solely employed in praying, eating, and sleeping, are all, men and women, excessively fat even in early youth.
We were however more inclined to agree with Bougainville, who supposed the dark Tahaitians to be the original inhabitants, and the Yeris invaders, who at some remote period had subjugated them; for the latter are the exclusive possessors of the land; the others obtaining only a certain remuneration in fruits and vegetables for cultivating the fields and plantations of their masters.
Maidens of the highest rank were given to them for wives; and each of them was installed governor of an island. "The descendants of these strangers," said Karemaku, "may still be distinguished by their whiter colour." Here, as at Tahaiti, the Yeris differ from the lower classes in their superior size, and some also by a greater degree of fairness.
The King then assembled the most distinguished Yeris, and after fourteen days' deliberation, decreed that a piece of land should be granted to the missionaries, with permission to build a church, and to preach their doctrines, under the condition that they should immediately leave the island if the experiment should be found to have a prejudicial influence on the people.
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