第61章 TRAITS AND SECTS IN THE PAUMOTUSTHE MOST(3)

The design of mystery seems obvious,and according to a very intelligent observer,Mr.Magee of Mangareva,this element of the mysterious is a chief attraction of the Mormon Church.It enjoys some of the status of Freemasonry at home,and there is for the convert some of the exhilaration of adventure.Other attractions are certainly conjoined.Perpetual rebaptism,leading to a succession of baptismal feasts,is found,both from the social and the spiritual side,a pleasing feature.More important is the fact that all the faithful enjoy office;perhaps more important still,the strictness of the discipline.'The veto on liquor,'said Mr.

Magee,'brings them plenty members.'There is no doubt these islanders are fond of drink,and no doubt they refrain from the indulgence;a bout on a feast-day,for instance,may be followed by a week or a month of rigorous sobriety.Mr.Wilmot attributes this to Paumotuan frugality and the love of hoarding;it goes far deeper.I have mentioned that I made a feast on board the CASCO.

To wash down ship's bread and jam,each guest was given the choice of rum or syrup,and out of the whole number only one man voted -in a defiant tone,and amid shouts of mirth -for 'Trum'!This was in public.I had the meanness to repeat the experiment,whenever Ihad a chance,within the four walls of my house;and three at least,who had refused at the festival,greedily drank rum behind a door.But there were others thoroughly consistent.I said the virtues of the race were bourgeois and puritan;and how bourgeois is this!how puritanic!how Scottish!and how Yankee!-the temptation,the resistance,the public hypocritical conformity,the Pharisees,the Holy Willies,and the true disciples.With such a people the popularity of an ascetic Church appears legitimate;in these strict rules,in this perpetual supervision,the weak find their advantage,the strong a certain pleasure;and the doctrine of rebaptism,a clean bill and a fresh start,will comfort many staggering professors.

There is yet another sect,or what is called a sect -no doubt improperly -that of the Whistlers.Duncan Cameron,so clear in favour of the Mormons,was no less loud in condemnation of the Whistlers.Yet I do not know;I still fancy there is some connection,perhaps fortuitous,probably disavowed.Here at least are some doings in the house of an Israelite clergyman (or prophet)in the island of Anaa,of which I am equally sure that Duncan would disclaim and the Whistlers hail them for an imitation of their own.

My informant,a Tahitian and a Catholic,occupied one part of the house;the prophet and his family lived in the other.Night after night the Mormons,in the one end,held their evening sacrifice of song;night after night,in the other,the wife of the Tahitian lay awake and listened to their singing with amazement.At length she could contain herself no longer,woke her husband,and asked him what he heard.'I hear several persons singing hymns,'said he.

'Yes,'she returned,'but listen again!Do you not hear something supernatural?'His attention thus directed,he was aware of a strange buzzing voice -and yet he declared it was beautiful -which justly accompanied the singers.The next day he made inquiries.'It is a spirit,'said the prophet,with entire simplicity,'which has lately made a practice of joining us at family worship.'It did not appear the thing was visible,and like other spirits raised nearer home in these degenerate days,it was rudely ignorant,at first could only buzz,and had only learned of late to bear a part correctly in the music.