dulges in comic demonstrations of extasy whenever Mademoiselle Hermance appears on the scene, and, in short, makes himself as ridiculous and contented as can be. Mademoiselle Hermance, it is necessary to add, is the goddess of the quarter, and has nightly no end of worshippers. The theatre itself is everything that could be desired by any gentleman of advanced principles, who spurns propriety, and inclines himself towards oranges.

After the theatre the student probably goes home, and there I will leave him safely. My object has been merely to indicate the general characteristics of his ordinary life, from which he seldom deviates, unless tempted by an unexpected remittance to indulge in more costly recreations, afforded by the Bal Mabille or the Château Rouge.

M

Tahiti.

ADAME IDA PFEIFFER, of Vienna, a lady, favourably

known to the reading public of Germany as the pleasant narrator of a Pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and of various Tours in different parts of Europe, has recently published an account of her travels round the World. In her preface, she states that an uncontrollable desire to travel, and to see distant and little known regions, impelled her to undertake the bold enterprise, the details of which are now recorded in three little volumes, entitled "A Lady's Travels round the World."* In the course of so extensive a circuit, much that is curious and interesting must have presented itself to an intelligent observer like Madame Pfeiffer. We subjoin, with some abridgment, her account of Tahiti and its inhabitants.

.

It may be well to premise, that until lately Tahiti was under the protection of England, but it is now transferred to France. The island was long an object of dispute between the Governments of both nations; but in November, 1846, peace was concluded. Queen Pomare, who, during the interval of contention, fled to another island, had returned to Papeiti, one of the chief cities, a few weeks before Madame Pfeiffer arrived there. Her abode was a small house containing only four rooms, and she dined every day at the residence of the Governor. A suitable abode is now being built for the Queen, by the French Govern

*Frauenfahrt um die Welt.

ment, from which Her Majesty receives a pension of twenty-five thousand francs per annum.

Papeiti, the port, is surrounded by coral-reefs, which defend it like the outworks of a fortress, and render its entrance at once difficult and dangerous. Between the rocks, against which the billows break with frightful force, a very narrow opening barely affords sufficient room for the passage of ships. On our approach, says Madame Pfeiffer, a pilot came out to us, and, in spite of a very adverse wind, we succeeded in working our way safely into the harbour. After we had landed, we were congratulated on our lucky escape; the people who were anxiously watching our entrance assured us that at one moment we nearly struck on a coral bank-an accident which had a short time previously befallen a French vessel.

Before we cast anchor, we observed some half-dozen Pirogues making towards us; and in the space of a few minutes our deck was thronged with Indians, who nimbly climbed up the ship's sides to offer us fruit and shell-fish. But these luxuries are not now, as they were in Captain Cook's time, obtained in exchange for glass beads and bits of red cloth. They are to be had for money only; and our Tahitian visitors showed us that they knew how to drive bargains and extort high prices as well as the most practised hucksters of Europe. I presented to one of the Indians a ring made of some kind of gilt metal. He took it; and after smelling it, shook his head, giving me to understand that he knew it was not made of gold. Observing a ring on my finger, he took my hand, and whilst he smelt the ring, a pleasant smile that lighted up his features seemed expressive of a request that I would give it to him.

We found Papeiti (on the 25th of April, 1847,) full of French

The

troops, and several French ships were lying in the harbour. town, which contains between three and four thousand inhabitants, consists briefly of a range of wooden houses with gardens extending along the shore. A noble forest, crowning a range of hills, forms the background of the scene, and here and there on the upland are scattered many small huts.

The only buildings of any commodious size, are the Governor's house, the French magazine, the military bakehouse (whence the barracks are supplied with bread), and the Queen's residence, not yet completed. Many little wooden houses, containing only one room, had been hastily constructed, to supply the demand for dwelling places, which, when I was there, were so scarce, that French officers of rank were glad to take up their quarters in wretched Indian huts.

I looked about in vain for a lodging. Nowhere could I find a single room to let; and at length I was fain to content myself with part of a room-in short, literally a corner. This accommodation I found in a hut, occupied by a carpenter, his wife, and two children. A space about six feet in length, and four in width, was allotted to me behind the door. The floor was not boarded, and the walls were formed of staccadoes or palisades. There was neither bedstead nor chair; and yet, for this lodging I was obliged to pay very exorbitantly.

The hut of a Tahitian Indian frequently has no walls, and consists merely of a roofing of palm-leaves supported on poles. Even those better sort of huts, which have palisadoed walls, are not divided into compartments; all comprise only one room, the dimensions of which usually vary from twenty to fifty feet in length, and from ten to thirty in breadth. The whole furniture consists of mats of plaited straw, some coverings for beds, a few wooden

chests, and possibly one or two jointed stools; the latter, however, rank among superfluities. Of cooking utensils or apparatus, the Indians possess none. Their food is all baked in stone ovens.

The stones are heated, and the meat is put into the oven without any dish. At table, one knife suffices for a whole party; and a cccoa-nut shell serves as a basin to contain water for their drink. The missionaries who have successively resided here during the last fifty years, have wrought a change in the dress of the natives, especially those in the neighbourhood of Papeiti. Still, however, their costume is sufficiently characteristic of savage life. Both men and women wear a garment called the pareo; it is a sort of petticoat made of coloured cloth and fastened round the waist by a band. By the women it is worn long enough to descend to the ankles; but the men have it much shorter, reaching only to the knee. The men wear a short shirt of coloured cotton over the pareo, and under it they frequently have loose trousers. The upper garment of the women is a sort of long full blouse. Both sexes wear flowers in their ears instead of ear-rings, the hole in the lobe of the ear being bored sufficiently large to admit of flower stalks being easily drawn through it. The Tahitian women, old as well as young, adorn themselves profusely with flowers and foliage, of which they form very tasteful wreaths and bouquets. I also frequently saw men wearing wreaths round their heads. On holidays and other festive occasions, they wear, in addition to their ordinary dress, an upper garment called the tiputa. This is made of a material of their own manufacture, prepared from the bark of the bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees. The bark, when newly stripped from the tree, is beat and pressed with stones until it becomes as thin as paper; after which it is coloured yellow and brown.