CATHEDRAL OF PAPOAR--THE CHURCH OF THE COCOA-NUTS ON Sundays I always attended the principal native church, on the outskirts of the village of Papeetee, and not far from the Calabooza Beretanee.

It was esteemed the best specimen of architecture in Tahiti.
Of late, they have built their places of worship with more reference to durability than formerly.

At one time, there were no less than thirty-six on the island--mere barns, tied together with thongs, which went to destruction in a very few years.
One, built many years ago in this style, was a most remarkable structure.

It was erected by Pomaree II., who, on this occasion, showed all the zeal of a royal proselyte.

The building was over seven hundred feet in length, and of a proportionate width; the vast ridge-pole was at intervals supported by a row of thirty-six cylindrical trunks of the bread-fruit tree; and, all round, the wall-plates rested on shafts of the palm.