BANCROFT 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
[SUPPLEMENT TO THE FRIEND.] 
 
 wrong gwar f apers: 
 
 BY REV. SAMUEL C. DAMON. 
 
 " The immense Pacific smiles 
 Round ten thousand little isles, 
 Haunts of violence and wiles. 
 
 " But the powers of darkness yreldv 
 For the Cross is in the field, 
 And the light of life reveal'd.". 
 
 MOMTGOMERV, 1826. 
 
 HONOLULU : 
 
 PRINTED FOR THE HAWAIIAN MISSIONARY SOCIETY 
 1861. 
 
"The isles shall wait for His law." ISAIAH xlii : 4. 
 
 "The isles shall wait upon Me." ISAIAH li : 5. 
 
 ' Surely the isles shall wait for Me." ISAIAH Ix : 9. 
 
 " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every living creature." 
 
 MARK xvi : 15. 
 
 " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.*' 
 
 MATTHEW xxviii : 20. 
 
 " I feel confident that, regarded as a mere money investment, the very best invest- 
 ment this country [England] can make, is to send out in advance of either colonists 
 or merchants, Missionaries, who may prepare the way for those who are to follow." 
 
 SIR G. GREY, Governor of New Zealand. 
 
 " One thing is consummated and settled in my mind, and that is, a full and de- 
 lightful conviction that the cause of Missions has never held too high a place in my 
 estimation, or engaged too large a share of my attention. This is saying nothing, 
 and less than nothing. It transcends immeasurably transcends the highest estima- 
 tion of every created mind.' 9 REV. DR. WORCESTER, First Sec'ry A, B. C. F. M., 1821. 
 
 "It is our duty to visit surrounding islands. A missionary was never designed by 
 Jesus Christ, to gather a congregation of a hundred or two natives, and sit down at 
 his ease, as contented as if every sinner was converted, while thousands around him, 
 and but a few miles off, aie eating each other's flesh, and drinking each other's blood, 
 living and dying without the Gospel. For my own part I cannot content myself within 
 the narrow limits of a single reef; and, if means are not afforded, a continent would 
 he infinitely preferable; for there, if you cannot ride, you can walk; but to these 
 isolated islands a ship must carry you. Did you know the state of the surround- 
 ing islands, how ripe they are for the reception of the Gospel, you would sell the very 
 gods out of your museum, if it were necessary, to carry the glad tidings of salvatioa 
 to those now sitting in darkness." REV. Jonx WILLIAMS, (Martyr of Erumanga,) 
 to the Directors of London Missionary Society, 1823. 
 
 " Come, Lord, and added to thy many crowns, 
 Receive yet one, the crown of all the earth, 
 Thou, who alone art worthy." COWPER. 
 
 BY H. M. WHITNEY, COMMERCIAL ADYERTISKR OFF1CS. 
 
GLIMPSES AND GLANCES 
 
 AT THE 
 
 SIG-HTS, SCENES AND PEOPLE 
 
 OF MICRONESIA. 
 
 I. 
 
 PREFATORY. 
 
 A FEW glimpses and glances with an observing pair of eyes, will 
 afford a better idea of a place and people than books of travels and 
 voyages written by the most graphic pen. All are not inclined to 
 journey abroad, or if inclined, do not enjoy the privilege of going, 
 hence they must obtain their knowledge of foreign lands, by reading or 
 conversation with those who have seen those lands and communities 
 beyond the seas. Having enjoyed a favorable opportunity for cruising 
 among the islands of Micronesia and catching " glimpses and glances 
 at the sights, scenes and people " of that remote and unfrequented re- 
 gion upon our globe, we propose furnishing our readers with a series of 
 descriptive sketches, or rather extracts from " our log," while on board 
 the Morning Star, during her fifth and last trip to the westward. 
 
 The nature of our cruise would not allow time for deep research into 
 the origin of the inhabitants, or for historical investigations, although 
 we have not neglected to peruse such publications as relate to those 
 parts of the Pacific, including volumes of former voyages, the journals 
 of missionaries, and books of natural science. We have read with 
 profit that portion of the U. S. Exploring Expedition, by Lieut. Wilkes, 
 relating to the Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, the voyages of the re- 
 nowned Kotzebue, to the Radack Chain of the Marshall Islands, and 
 several other works relating to Micronesia; also Darwin's Voyage of a 
 Naturalist, and Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea. The most 
 readable and reliable sources of information are the Morning Star, or 
 History of the Children's Missionary Vessel, by Mrs. Jane S. Warren, 
 of Boston, and the Lectures of Rev. L. H. Gulick, M. D., published in 
 
the Polynesian. We began, however, to treasure up stores of knowl- 
 edge respecting Micronesia, many years ago, as we sat in our sanctum, 
 and conversed with shipmasters and sailors, who had visited those 
 comparatively unknown regions. We were accustomed to do this 
 long before the establishment of the Micronesian Mission. Since the 
 mission was commenced, ia 1852, we have maintained a frequent cor- 
 respondence with all the missionaries, having been permitted the 
 privilege of a personal acquaintance with them, while they were en 
 route from the United States to their distant and lonely stations upon 
 Kusaie, Ponapi, Apaiang and Ebon. It has long been our cherished 
 desire to visit them, and behold the changes there in progress. Cir- 
 cumstances have not allowed us to carry out this desire until the sailing 
 of the Morning Star upon her last trip, bound thither with the annual 
 supplies for the mission-families. While making our preparations to 
 leave, the Hawaiian Missionary Society conferred upon us the honor of 
 acting as their Delegate. 
 
 When starting upon our cruise, the prospect of a change of scene, 
 and rest from the long continued pressure of professional duties, was 
 most refreshing to our jaded spirits. We longed for rest and mental 
 repose ; the idea of enjoying rest and repose amid the unvisited scenes 
 of Micronesia, served to gild the future with dreamy fancies which 
 we feared could not be realized. In imagination, we pictured many a 
 pleasant day's sail along the shores of islands decked in the rich and 
 gorgeous drapery of the tropics, and over lagoons where 
 
 " Life, in rare and beautiful form, 
 Is sporting amid those bowers of stone." 
 
 We anticipated much of the purest enjoyment from the friendly 
 greeting and familiar converse with the missionary brethren. Disap- 
 pointment has not been our lot. The participation has been more 
 than was the anticipation. The bright fancies of the imagination 
 have been realized. If now our descriptions of the Micronesian 
 Islands appear tame and common place, the reason will be that our 
 pen has tailed to give full expression to our ideas, and experiences, 
 for we have seen enough, and experienced enough to fill volumes 
 with far more entertaining sketches than we are able to produce. But 
 we hope not altogether to fail in our attempts, inasmuch as we 
 merely propose to sketch " glimpses and glances at the sights, scenes 
 and people of Micronesia." 
 
II. 
 
 OUTLINE OF OUR CRUISE. 
 
 Leaving Honolulu, Saturday May llth, at one o'clock P. M., the 
 Morning Star pursued a southwesterly course, running before the 
 northeast trade winds. On crossing the meridian, we changed our 
 Sabbath to correspond with that of the missionaries of Micronesia. 
 No incident of importance occurred during our passage to Apaiang, 
 or Charlotte Island, one of the Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands, lying in 
 2 North latitude and 173 East longitude. We reached the-island, 
 Monday morning, May 26th, fifteen days after sailing from Honolulu. 
 We were greeted with a most cordial welcome from the Kev. Mr. 
 Bingham, before our vessel came to anchor in the smooth waters of the 
 lagoon of Apaiang, for this island is one of the numerous coral islands, 
 forming the Gilbert Group. 
 
 We remained at anchor for three days at Apaiang, when we started for 
 the neighboring Island of Tarawa, taking with us Mr. and Mrs. Bing- 
 ham, as passengers, who proposed to visit their missionary associates, 
 Messrs. Mahoe and Haina, on Tarawa. One day's sail brought us to a 
 safe anchorage in the lagoon of Tarawa. Finding the mission families 
 in health, and usefully occupied, we spent three days, including a 
 Sabbath, at this station, when we squared away for the Marshall 
 Islands, touching on our passage to leave Mr. and Mrs. Bingham at 
 their island-home. Running in a northwesterly direction, after a 
 quick passage of only two days, we reached Boston or CovelPs Island, 
 as it is known upon the charts of navigators, but now called Ebon 
 by the missionaries, who have followed the native authority. This 
 kland lies 4 39 N., and 168 50 E. At this island we spent four 
 days including a Sabbath when we sailed for Strong's Island, Ualan, 
 or Kusaie, lying in 5 19 N., and 163 E. L. Having light winds 
 we were six days making the passage, hence did not land on that Island, 
 until early Sabbath morning, June 15. On Strong's Island, we were 
 weather-bound for five days, being unable to communicate with our vessel, 
 which was lying "off and on." 
 
 Having landed our supplies, and leaving the mission family of Mr. 
 Snow, in health, we sailed for Ascension, or Ponapi, lying in 6 48 N., 
 and 158 19 E. We entered what is called the Middle Harbor, 
 lying midway between the two Mission Stations of Kiti and Shalong. 
 Having spent eleven days there, at anchor, and visiting various lo- 
 calities upon the island, we started upon our home-passage, which 
 we made in just forty days, having been compelled by adverse 
 winds to run as far north as the thirty-sixth degree of latitude. 
 During our homeward passage, we experienced a severe gale on the 
 22d of July, in Latitude 34 30, and Longitude 166 E. The 
 vessel was " hove to " about eighteen hours. The gale was most se- 
 vere between 10 and 12 o'clock at night, when very serious fears 
 were entertained for our safety. Our danger was imminent. At the 
 time we were a thousand miles from the nearest land, perhaps nearer 
 Japan than any other habitable part of the globe. By the merciful in- 
 
terposition of God, we were finally permitted to conclude our voyage 
 in safety, reaching Honolulu, Tuesday, August 13th, and having been, 
 absent just ninety-three days : 
 
 Sailed from Honolulu, May llth. 
 
 Passage to Apaiang 15 days. 
 
 Kemain at " - - 3 " 
 
 Passage to Tarawa. - - - - 1 " 
 
 Remain at " - - 3 " 
 
 Passage to Ebon, - - - 3 " 
 
 Kemain at " - - 4 " 
 
 Passage to Kusaie, - - - 6 " 
 
 Remain at " 5 " 
 
 Passage to Ponapi, - - - 2 " 
 
 Remain at " - - - - 11 " 
 
 Passage to Honolulu, 40 " 
 
 Total, - 93 days 
 
 During that period, our anchor was dropped six times, twice at Apai- 
 ang, once at Tarawa, once at Ebon, once at Kusaie, and once at Ponapi. 
 We sailed, in round numbers, eight thousand miles, running as far south as 
 2 N., and as far N. as 36 , and as far west as 158 E. L. thus our 
 cruise forms nearly an oblong parallelogram upon the chart. Deduct- 
 ing twenty-six days that we were lying in port, from ninety-three that 
 we were absent, will leave sixty-seven sailing-days, hence, we averaged 
 about 120 miles each sailing-day. Our best day's run was 230 miles, 
 and our poorest three miles, when we were nearly becalmed on our 
 passage from Ebon to Kusaie. 
 
 The pleasure of our cruise, and the benefit derived from the voyage, 
 we attribute, in no small degree, to the excellent management of Capt. 
 Gelett,the efficiency of his officers, Mr. Mosher and Mr. Johns, and the 
 promptitude and obedience of the seamen, six of whom were Hawaiians, 
 and the remainder, Gabriel Holmes and William Gelett, were Ameri- 
 cans. Our steward, cabin-boy and cook, are deserving of many thanks. 
 On our return passage, .the cabin was filled with passengers, including 
 Mrs. Sturges and daughter, Mrs. Doane and two children, Mr. and Mrs. 
 Roberts and two children, Mrs. Gelett, Mr. Ashmead, Masters C. Corgett, 
 and Edward Damon. 
 
 III. 
 
 GILBERT OR KINGSMILL ISLANDERS, MEMBERS OF THE 
 POLYNESIAN FAMILY. 
 
 Proofs are abundant that the inhabitants of these islands belong 
 to the same race as those of the Hawaiian, Marquesan, Tahitian and 
 Samoan Islands. In appearance, they most strikingly resemble Ha- 
 wanans. There is evidently a mixture of people coming from differ- 
 ent parts of Polynesia. Some strikingly resemble the Samoans, or 
 Navigator Islanders. Not only does their appearance, cast of counte- 
 nance, form of body, color of hair, eyes, teeth, and other character- 
 
istics indicate their origin to be the same, but also their language and 
 many of their customs and practices. 
 
 In conversing with the native missionaries, we asked them, if they 
 found any words which were the same as those used by Hawaiian?. 
 They replied that they did. In a few moments, Kanoa, Mr. Bingham's 
 associate on Apaiang, furnished us the following list : 
 
 English, Hawaiian. Gilbert. 
 
 Fowl, Moa, Moa, 
 
 Forbid, Kabu, Tabu, 
 
 Woman, Wahine, Aine, 
 
 Man, Kanaka, Aomata, 
 
 Canoe, Waa, Wa, 
 
 Fire, Ahi, Ai, 
 
 Red, Ulaula, Uraura, 
 
 Big Fish, Ulua, Urua, 
 
 Cocoanut, Niu, Ni, 
 
 Eye, Maka, Mata. 
 
 This list, we are confident, might be extended so as to embrace hun- 
 dreds of words. We hope as our missionaries become intimately ac- 
 quainted with the language, that they will devote some attention to 
 this interesting subject. 
 
 We noticed the natives of Apaiang kindling fire, by rubbing two 
 sticks together, just as we have witnessed Hawaiians do the same thing. 
 The natives of Hawaii and Apaiang, carry burdens on a pole in a sim- 
 ilar manner. The more familiarly we become acquainted with this 
 people, the more were we impressed with their striking resemblance to 
 Hawaiians, although, as we shall show, many of their customs and 
 practices are strikingly at variance and dissimilar to what is to be found 
 in other parts of Polynesia. 
 
 It has been asserted by some writers that the system of tabu did 
 not exist among the Gilbert Islanders. Such a statement is remarka- 
 bly at variance with facts. The tabus of this people are as marked as 
 those of other branches of the Polynesian family. Sabbath morning, 
 June 1, while the people were assembling, for public worship in one of 
 the villages in Tarawa, Mr. Bingham invited the children, who were 
 occupying a house adjoining the council house. They could not enter 
 the council, while they were undergoing the whitening process, because 
 it was tabu. 
 
 It was tabu for women to sit down upon the mast of a canoe, when 
 it lay upon the ground. 
 
 It was tabu for boys, whose heads had been shaved, and over whom 
 certain incantations had been performed, to eat certain parts of the 
 meat of the cocoanut, and also certain kinds of fish. These boys 
 were required to abstain, supposing it would make them brave in war. 
 
 Mr. Bingham related an incident connected with one of the council 
 houses in Apaiang, showing that certain women had broken tabu by 
 entering it. The house was purified and cleansed, by offerings. 
 
IV. 
 
 COUNCIL HOUSES. 
 
 The existence of what have been styled council houses, forms a most 
 striking peculiarity in the political and social organization of society 
 among the inhabitants of the Gilbert Islands. A council house is to b 
 found in every village. We visited three villages upon Apaiang, and 
 seven villages upon Tarawa, and in every village these houses existed. 
 They are built after the same general style of house-building among 
 those islanders, although larger and more substantial than common 
 dwellings. The uses are various to which these houses are devoted. 
 An Englishman residing upon Tarawa called them houses of parlia- 
 ment. An American would style them, perhaps, house of represent- 
 atives or court houses. When subjects of a political, civil or criminal 
 nature are to be discussed, the people hurry, en masse, to the council 
 house. When one king would declare war against another, he sum- 
 mons his subjects to these places. There questions are discussed. The 
 king sits as president of the council. His chiefs and the landholders 
 express their minds. He quietly listens until all have finished 4 , when 
 he will make known his opinion, and that decides the question, pro or 
 con. No vote is taken. 
 
 If a crime has been committed, the people assemble at the council 
 house to hear what the king shall decide in regard to the punishment 
 of the criminal. Death is the most common penalty for theft and adul- 
 tery. This is the case when the offender is a man of low rank ; but if 
 a personage of importance, then he is fined by taking away his lands. 
 
 The council houses are the hula or dance houses. For this purpose 
 they are brought into frequent use. Companies of strolling and abani 
 doned women traverse the islands, traveling from village to village for 
 the entertainment of "lewd fellows of the baser sort." The dances are 
 performed' in the night, and are attended with those scenes of midnight 
 revelry, debauchery and licentiousness, which degrade and debase the 
 people. Married women are not allowed to be present. Would that 
 the same remark might be made with reference to their husbands ! 
 
 It is to be hoped that these council houses will hereafter be devoted 
 to better and holier purposes. Already many of them have been used 
 as chapels or houses of Divine worship. When the missionaries are 
 upon their tours, and would gather the people to hear the preaching of 
 the Gospel, the council houses are uniformly the places of resort. We 
 attended public worship three times on the Sabbath spent upon Tarawa, 
 and each time the services were there held. On one occasion we 
 entered the village before our companions had arrived. The little chil- 
 dren led the way to the council house, where the meeting was held. 
 
V. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE GILBERT ISLANDS. 
 
 Each island of the group is under a separate and independent king. 
 He is the head chief of the island, although there are many other chiefs. 
 The inhabitants appear to be divided into four classes or grades, viz : 
 
 1. King. 
 
 2. Chiefs. 
 
 3. Landholders, and 
 
 4. Slaves. 
 
 The position of the king is peculiar, for while acknowledged as 
 sovereign, yet he receives no tribute or taxes. He rules, in some 
 respects, with the will of a tyrant or despot, yet in others he appears 
 destitute of all authority. He does not maintain any royal state, or 
 keep a guard. The people appear to have but very little respect for their 
 kings, by no means approaching to that obsequious and servile 
 demeanor which is exacted by the ruling sovereign in some other parts 
 of Polynesia. 
 
 THE" CHIEFS Exercise authority in their respective villages, and 
 among their own people. 
 
 THE LANDHOLDERS Comprise the great body of the people. All the 
 land is owned by some one. The long and narrow islands are divided 
 and sub-divided into sections, the lines running from the lagoon to the 
 ocean outside. They are very tenacious of their lands; a man is 
 esteemed and holds sway according to the amount of land which he 
 possesses, and the number of cocoanut trees thereon. 
 
 THE SLAVES. Slavery exists in a mild form. The slave is usually a 
 captive taken in war. The master exacts labor. The slave is a domes- 
 tic servant. The master employs him in collecting cocoanuts, pandanus 
 fruit or fishing. 
 
 The political affairs of the islands are far from being in a settled state. 
 Wars are frequent. The people upon one island as, for example, the 
 people upon Tarawa are ever ready to wage war with those upon 
 Apaiang. So the chiefs are ever ready to plot for the overthrow of the 
 king. So far as we were able to judge of the present political affairs of 
 the group, they very much resemble the condition of things on the Sand- 
 wich Islands previous to the conquest by Kamehameha I. It would 
 doubtless now prove an incalculable blessing if the whole group was 
 placed under some powerful dynasty. 
 
 VI. 
 
 ROYAL FAMILY OF TARAWA. 
 
 Tentebau is really the sovereign of this island, although his grandson, 
 Tekourabi, is the acting king. Tentebau is a very old man, probably 
 between eighty and ninety years of age. He has a very numerous 
 progeny. He has seven children, (including five sons and two daugh- 
 ters,) twenty-three grandchildren, twenty-one great-grandchildren, and 
 
10 
 
 two great-great-grandchildren. Should the old man live many more 
 years, at the average increase upon Tarawa, his descendants will become 
 very numerous. His family is married and intermarried in every 
 village. The old man has been a famous warrior. His body now bears 
 the scars and marks of many a fierce encounter with his enemies. He 
 says that he has been engaged in nineteen battles. The expression of 
 his countenance very much resembles the portrait of Kamehameha I., 
 hanging in the palace at Honolulu. 
 
 Tentaberanau, the son of the old king, would naturally be the reign- 
 ing sovereign, but in consequence of his total blindness, he has resigned 
 in favor of his son Tekourabi, mentioned below. This is a singular 
 state of things. One person too old to rule, and another willing to 
 resign because totally blind. This blindness is the result of a wound 
 received in battle. 
 
 Tekourabi, the ruling king, is about thirty years of age. In personal 
 appearance, large and fleshy, yet apparently a man of great strength. 
 He has but one wife, and several children. In his habits and manner 
 of life, he is a thorough Tarawan, giving himself up to pleasure and the 
 rollicking habits of a " fast man," yet he is a stern ruler when he takes 
 hold of the reins of government ; the life of a subject is of but small 
 account at such times. The following instance indicates the manner of 
 administering justice in Tarawa. When Mahoe and Haina were sta- 
 tioned there nine months ago, the king promised his protection. The 
 missionaries suffered from thieves. The king warned the people to 
 beware, but a theft was again committed. The thief was detected, and 
 the king, with his own hand, put the man to death much to the regret 
 of the missionaries, but without their knowledge. This summary 
 method has put a stop to all annoyances of this kind, so that now the 
 missionaries are living in the utmost personal security. 
 
 Should any of our readers be disposed to censure the penal code as 
 administered by the king of Tarawa, let it be borne in mind that not a 
 century has passed away since an English Judge declared, " If you im- 
 prison at home, the criminal is soon thrown back upon you, hardened in 
 guilt. If you transport, you corrupt infant societies, you sow the seeds 
 of atrocious crimes over the habitable globe. There is no regenerating 
 a felon in this life. And, for his own sake, as well as for the sake of 
 society, 1 think it better to hang?' Those were days when the English 
 penal code made deer-killing, sheep-stealing, cattle-maiming and tree- 
 destroying, capital crimes. 
 
 It was our pleasure to see four generations of the royal family of Tarawa 
 present at divine service on the morning of the Sabbath, June 1, when the 
 Kev. Mr. Bingham improved the occasion to speak of the sorrow of the 
 missionaries, that a man should have been put to death for theft, 
 and informed the king that a severe fine, or some other punishment, 
 would be preferable. 
 
11 
 vn. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE PROSPECTS OF THE MISSION UPON 
 THE GILBERT ISLANDS? 
 
 We answer unhesitatingly in that good old Saxon word, good. A 
 good beginning has been made. There has a most favorable impression 
 gone abroad. The Rev. Mr. Bingham, assisted by Hawaiian Mission- 
 aries, has been laboring for years upon Apaiang. We will now en- 
 deavor to state what they have accomplished. They have acquired a 
 correct knowledge of the language. Small portions of the New Tes- 
 tament have been printed in that tongue. Mr. Bingham hopes to have 
 ready for the press at the end of another year, the Gospels of Matthew, 
 Mark, Luke, John and the Book of Acts. A small collection of hymns 
 has also been printed. Some of these are original, and were written 
 by Mr. and Mrs. B., while others are translations of several English 
 hymns, familiar to all, viz : 
 
 " From Greenland's Icy Mountains," &c. 
 
 " There is a happy land," &c. 
 
 " I love to steal awhile away," &c. 
 
 " Mysterious Sweetness sits enthroned," &c. 
 
 " When thou, my righteous Judge," &c. 
 
 " Guide me, thou Great Jehovah," &c> 
 
 Some primary reading books, have also been prepared. 
 
 At the station, Mrs. B. and the wife of Kanoa, have each been en- 
 gaged in teaching a week-day school. Twenty-four pupils have been 
 taught to read, and received much elementary instruction in geography, 
 and other useful branches. It was our privilege to attend an examina- 
 tion of these pupils. The amount of Scriptural knowledge which they 
 had acquired was truly gratifying. Several of Mrs. B.'s pupils would 
 answer questions equal to the advanced classes in the very best Sab- 
 bath Schools of Christain lands. It was our privilege to examine ijer 
 pupils, as well as those taught by Kanoa's wife, and the wives of the 
 Hawaiian Missionaries on Tarawa. Olivia, the wife of Mahoe, on 
 Tarawa, has done herself great credit. Although she has been at that 
 station but nine months, still she has formed a promising class of pu- 
 pils. It was a pleasant sight to see Olivia, a pupil of Miss Ogden, 
 thus engaged as a most efficient missionary among the poor and de- 
 graded people of Tarawa. The wife of Haina, the other missionary, is 
 a most worthy and exemplary Christian woman, faithfully occupied in 
 her appropriate missionary work. No where has it ever been our 
 privilege to witness three Hawaiian families (Kanoa's, Haina's and 
 Mahoe's) which were better conducted, or more exemplary. They all 
 have children. We think such families cannot but exert a good salu- 
 tary influence among a heathen people. Would that every island of 
 the Gilbert Group had such mission families living among them. 
 
 The work at Mr. Bingham's Station, on Apaiang, has assumed a 
 most interesting aspect. Several give the most gratifying evidence 
 that they are truly converted souls. Two have been baptized. One of 
 
12 
 
 these is a remarkable youth, of about sixteen years of age. He has 
 been a member of Mr. B's family about one year, and is actively en- 
 gaged with Mr. B. in the work of translation. The assistance which 
 herenders is vastly important. After they had collected about two 
 thousand words of the language, Mr. B. offered this young man one 
 dollar a hundred for additional words. He had already gathered about 
 six hundred. In the work of translation he goes over with Mr. B., word 
 by word of the New Testament. Mrs. B. too lends her aid, and when 
 the translation is completed, then she will prepare a neat and beautiful 
 copy for the press. If there be a sight on earth, which we may sup- 
 pose would arrest the attention of the Apocalyptic Angel, flying through 
 the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach, it must be 
 that group of translators upon the lone Island of Apaiang. If it were 
 in our power, we should delight to transfer the living picture to the 
 canvas, with the genius and skill of an Italian painter. 
 
 Among the candidates who are affording pleasing evidences that they 
 will ere long become united with the church of Christ, are the King 
 and Queen of Apaiang. They were both at the Wednesday evening 
 prayer-meeting, May 28th. It was our privilege to unite with those 
 heathen converts in prayer, led by the King. At the close of the meet- 
 ing, the additional privilege was afforded of uniting in the celebration 
 of the Lord's Supper. Could the friends of missions have been pres- 
 ent in that assembly, I think they would have agreed with us in the 
 remark, that a good work had commenced upon Apaiang that a good 
 beginning had been made among the inhabitants of the Gilbert Islands, 
 and that there was a reasonable prospect that the good work would 
 progress. We entertain no manner of doubt upon this subject, provided 
 the work of missions is vigorously prosecuted. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 THE REV. MR. BINGHAM'S RETURN TO HONOLULU. 
 
 On the arrival of the Rev. Mr. Bingham, Jr., at Honolulu, in 1857> 
 several of the chiefs who had long been intimate friends of his fa- 
 ther, and many others, were anxious that he should remain and occupy 
 the post so long occupied by^ his honored father. They reminded 
 him, that his father, on the bTrth of the son, promised them that he 
 should be their teacher. But Mr. Bingham, in consultation with his 
 brethren, decided that it was not expedient for him to turn aside from 
 his purpose to go and preach the gospel in " the regions beyond." In 
 1860, with the full approbation of the Prudential Committee, and of 
 the Rev. Mr. Clark, pastor of the church in Honolulu, whose health 
 and advancing years required that he should be relieved of a part, at 
 leastj of the many labors of so important a post, the First Native 
 Church of Honolulu made out a formal call for Mr. Bingham to return 
 and become their pastor. This call was approved of by the Hawaiian Evan- 
 gelical Association. The call was forwarded by the Morning Star last 
 year, but Mr. Bingham did not see his way clear to accept the call, but 
 intimated that he might do so at a future time, under certain conditipps. 
 
13 
 
 On the return of the Morning Star this year to his station, although the 
 church did not think best to renew the call formally, yet the pastor of 
 the church informed him that the door was still open, and the call tor 
 his labors was more urgent than last year, referring the whole de- 
 cision of the case to his own judgment. It is proper to say also, 
 that the subject was again brought to his mind by the Secretary of the 
 American Board in Boston. 
 
 As we have just remarked, the call was renewed this year, and we 
 were requested to " second " that call. Before consenting to do so, we 
 were rejoiced that the privilege would be allowed us of going upon the 
 ground and viewing the call from a stand-point on heathen, not Chris- 
 tian soil. On our arrival at Apaiang, the subject was very soon 
 made the topic of conversation, and was thoroughly and prayerfully 
 discussed. But while the subject was under consideration, in company 
 with Mr. and Mrs. Bingham, we called upon the King of Apaiang, 
 visiting the church on our way to the council house, where we met his 
 Majesty. Having been introduced, and the object of our visit to Mi- 
 cronesia stated, with Mr. Bingham as interpreter, we conversed 
 awhile respecting Capt. Handy, bark Belle, and other topics; at length 
 the subject of Mr. Bingham's removal to Honolulu, was taken up. We 
 informed the King that the people of Honolulu had sent a request for 
 Mr. and Mrs. Bingham to return to Honolulu, and we stated also the 
 nature of the call. We then asked him what was his " thought upon 
 the subject." After a moment's silence, with a countenance expressive 
 of perplexity and concern, he replied, "If Bingham goes to Honolulu, 
 who will be our friend?" In the course of our conversation, he very 
 soon repeated the same remark, " If Bingham goes to Honolulu, who 
 will be our friend ?" This suggestive view of the subject led us to be 
 very cautious how we endeavored to persuade a missionary to leave 
 his field, and return to preach in a Christian land. I remarked, how- 
 ever, to the King, " Suppose Mr. Bingham goes, and Dr. Gulick is sent 
 to take his place." He replied that " that might do." 
 
 While this conversation was going forward, a group of natives 
 gathered around and silently listened to what was said. We were 
 much impressed with the question of an old native woman, evidently 
 one of the common people. She asked, " Have you no missionary 
 at Oahu, that you came to take ours away ?" We could not reply 
 that Oahu was destitute of missionaries. We returned from that in- 
 terview firmly resolved that Mr. Bingham should not be induced to 
 leave for Oahu through any solicitation on our part. We were not 
 prepared to say, that duty might not call him away from Apaiang, but 
 we did see that he occupied a position of influence, usefulness and 
 importance, second to no other within the range of our knowledge. 
 We saw, moreover, that a missionary and his wife, who have acquired 
 a heathen language, and are usefully engaged in their work, are too 
 valuable servants to be removed from their station, unless for the most 
 important considerations, and under the pressure of the most weighty calls. 
 
 It now remained for Mr. Bingham to return a definite answer to 
 the call from the First Church in Honolulu. He subsequently gave 
 
14 
 
 us to understand, that he had decided to accept the call, and enter 
 upon his duties next year, provided the following conditions were 
 complied with, viz: 
 
 Pi rs t The Kev. Dr. Gulick, or some other suitable missionary, be 
 
 sent to take his place. 
 
 Secondly His honored father should return to Honolulu, and 
 
 Thirdly His removal should not take place until the close of an- 
 other year's misssonary's labors, when he would have the gospels ready 
 for publication, and other work accomplished. 
 
 Hence, on the return of the Morning Star, next year, we may con- 
 fidently expect to see Mr. and Mrs. Bingharn, provided those conditions 
 are complied with. Their arrival will be hailed by many with delight, 
 and most surely no Christian brother, could become Pastor of the First 
 Church of Honolulu, whom we should more delight to see occupying 
 that important position, if his present post can be as ably manned, 
 otherwise we hope he may not come. Should this measure be carried out, 
 we shall expect that his influence here will continue to be felt in behalf 
 of the Microruesian Mission, and we foresee many ways in which he 
 may still labor for the benefit of the people of Apaiang. In conclusion, we 
 would add, that throughout the protracted correspondence upon this 
 subject, the removal of Mr. and Mrs. Bingham will not be accomplished 
 through any self-seeking on their part, for we are fully confident that 
 both of them would now prefer living and laboring at Apaiang, rather 
 than in Honolulu. 
 
 IX. 
 
 SEA-SICK POETRY. 
 
 Kind reader* you may have perused what scholars denominate lyric, 
 tragic, epic and doggerel poetry, but we doubt whether any specimens 
 of sea-sick poetry ever fell under your observation. During our home- 
 ward passage from Micronesia, two of our lady passengers were sadly 
 afflicted with sea-sickness. Their cases were desperate ! Not even 
 Jayne's medicines could effect a cure ! Perhaps there is no sovereign 
 cure for sea-sickness but that recommended by Punch, who prescribes 
 for sea-sick invalids, " not to go to sea !" 
 
 We ought not to omit mentioning the fact, that the " Ode " was sug- 
 gested by a dream, in which the half-conscious sleeper fancied herself 
 endeavoring to indite a poetic effusion to " an old sail." She awoke, 
 exclaiming : 
 
 ** Oh lend me your wings, old sail" 
 
 When her suffering comrade caught the inspiration, and penned the 
 ode, to which a reply was returned on the following day. 
 
 Ode to an Old Sail. 
 
 Oh lend me your wings, Old Sail ! 
 
 And quickly I'll hasten away 
 From the chilling breath of this eastern gale, 
 
 To the fields of new mown hay. * 
 
16 
 
 Oh lend me your wings, Old Sail ! 
 
 For here no ease I find 
 Old sea-sickness, monster grim and pale, 
 
 Seeks all rny powers to bind. 
 
 Oh lend me your wings, Old Sail ! 
 
 I'm weary of lingering here 
 My usual sources of comfort fail, 
 
 I'm dismal, sad and drear. 
 
 Oh lend me your wings Old Sail ! 
 
 And adieu I'll quickly say, 
 To my suffering comrade, wan and pale, 
 
 And hasten gladly away. S s. 
 
 Morning Star, July 30, 1861. 
 
 Reply of the " Old Sail." 
 
 Do you ask for the wing of an old rent sail, 
 
 To bear you far hence away 
 To the land where your nights may be free from pain, 
 
 Nor sickness o'er burden the day ? 
 
 When the Morning Star saw her natal day, 
 
 My canvas was bright and new, 
 And I hastened her on 'neath the favoring gale, 
 
 O'er the waves of old ocean blue. 
 
 Now I lie on the deck but a shattered thing, 
 
 And to hear my doom I stay, 
 While with pity I gaze on the sea-sick ones, 
 
 1 gladly would speed on their way. 
 
 Though furled are my pinions and never again 
 May be spread to the breeze or the gale, 
 
 With hearty good will, I will render my aid 
 To strengthen some other weak sail. 
 
 So ye who are weary and worn with your voyage, 
 
 And feel that your life is but vain, 
 May strengthen a comrade and bid her look up, 
 
 And hope still the have^n to gain. 
 
 When the storm-king in vengeance shall ride o'er the main 
 And wild waves threaten swift to devour, 
 
 When the masts, spars and sails and the plank 'neath your feet. 
 You are fearing may leave you each hour, 
 
 Look beyond, where no cloud overshadows the day, 
 
 Where no surges or tempests shall roar, 
 And lean on His bosom who giveth thee rest, 
 
 When life's weary voyage shall be o'er. G tt. 
 
 Mor?iing Star, July 31, 1861, 
 
15 
 X. 
 
 FACTS AND FIGURES ABOUT GILBERT ISLANDS. 
 
 POPULATION. Captain Kandell, a cocoa-nut oil trader, who has long 
 been familiar with the islands, and has probably more influence through- 
 out the group, than any other foreigner, furnished the Rev. Dr. Gulick, 
 with the following, as the population of the Gilbert Islands: 
 
 Makin and Butaritari, (Pitt's Island) - 2,000 
 
 Marakei, (Mathew's Island) - - - 2,000 
 
 APAIANG, (Charlotte Island) - - 3,000 
 TARAWA, (Knox, properly Knoy's Island,) - 3,500 
 
 Maina, (Hall's Island) - - - 4,000 
 
 Kuria, (Woodle's Island) - - - 1,500 
 
 Aranuka, (Henderville's Island) - - 1,000 
 
 Apamama, (Simpson's Island) - - 5,000 
 
 Nonouti, (Sydenham's Island) - - 6,000 to 7,000 
 
 Taputeuwea, (Drummond's Island) - - 7,000 to 8,000 
 
 Peru, (Francis Island) - - - 1,500 to 2,000 
 
 Nukunau, (Byron's Island) - - - 5,000 to 6,000 
 
 Onoatoa, (Clerk's Island) - - 4,000 
 
 Tamana, (Rotcher's Island) - - - 3,000 
 
 Arorai (Hope Island) - - 2,000 to 2,500 
 
 50,500 to 54,000 
 
 FOOD OF THE INHABITANTS. With the exception of fish and a very 
 few cocoanuts, the food of the people consists almost entirely of the 
 fruit of the pandanus tree. They eat the fruit raw, and also prepare it 
 for long preservation. It must be exceedingly nutritious. Let no one 
 imagine that the fruit of the pandanus on the Gilbert Islands, is the 
 same hard and impalatable article as that found upon the Hawaiian 
 Islands. There is nearly as great a contrast between the two as be- 
 tween a crab apple and a lucious Oregon apple. It is not only nutritious, 
 but must be an exceedingly healthy diet. In no part of the world, 
 have we seen a more healthy community v than we found upon Apaiang 
 and Tarawa, the only two islands of the group which we saw. 
 
 COMMERCE. The only commerce of the islands consists in the sale 
 of cocoa-nut oil for tobacco. The natives in their degradation and 
 heathenism, manifest but very litHe disposition for trade except in to- 
 bacco and fire arms. A Sydney firm has been engaged in the oil 
 trade and it proved exceedingly profitable. As the influence of the 
 mission begins to be felt, a desire is awakening to obtain some other 
 articles in the way of traffic except tobacco. A few are beginning to 
 ask for cloth, knives, hatchets, and other articles. The King of Apaiang 
 forwarded five hundred dollars, by Capt. Gelett, to purchase lumber for 
 a small house. He had obtained the money, as a commission, for pro- 
 curing oil of his people for the traders. Judging from the two islands 
 which we visited, there is but little to tempt the trader to visit those 
 shores. 
 
17 
 
 CULTIVATION. The islands do not admit of cultivation. There is lit- 
 erally no soil. The islands are formed of sand, broken coral and 
 shells, with a thin layer of decomposed leaves and other vegetable 
 substances. The number of grasses, trees, and vines is exceedingly 
 small. At very great labor the natives cultivate a coarse species of 
 kalo, which they reserve for feasts, not eating it as an ordinary article 
 of diet. All the islands of this group are low, and of coral formation. 
 
 APAIANG. This island is about fifty miles in circumference. Twen- 
 ty-seven miles of the island is wooded. It varies from one-eighth, to 
 one-fourth of a mile in width. If all the land of the island was 
 brought into a compact form, it would not form an island four miles 
 in diameter. 
 
 FOREIGN INTERCOURSE. The Gilbert Islands were first discovered 
 in 1765. They were next visited by Captains Marshall and Gilbert, 
 commanding the Scarborough and Charlotte In 1824, the French 
 navigator, Duperrey, visited and explored some islands of this group. 
 The most thorough exploration and survey ever made, was performed 
 by the U. S. Exploring Expedition, in 1841. 
 
 In 1844, the whaleship, Columbia, Capt. Kelly, of New London, 
 was wrecked on Sydenham's Island. In 1848, Capt. Spencer, of the 
 Triton, was very nearly being cut off at the same island. On the 
 same island the Flying Fox, Capt. Brown, was wrecked and in 1852, 
 the whale ship Ontario, Capt. Slocum, was wrecked upon Pitt's Island. 
 
 At the present time, but very few foreigners are residing upon the 
 islands. There is but very little inducement for foreigners to settle 
 upon any of these islands. On Tarawa we found only two foreigners 
 except the Hawaiian Missionaries. These are engaged in collecting 
 cocoanut oil for Capt, Randell. 
 
 SOCIAL STANDING OF THE PEOPLE. They are an exceedingly debased 
 and degraded portion of the human family. They wear but little 
 clothing. Both sexes, until twelve or fourteen years of age, are en- 
 tirely destitute of clothing. Adults wear but a slight covering ; the 
 males tie around their bodies a coarse mat, while females wear a gir- 
 dle of fringed leaves a few inches wide. We can add our testimony 
 to the truthfulness of the following language of Dr. Gulick: 
 
 " They are pre-eminently indelicate and indecent, possessing very lit- 
 tle, if any, of that refined gentility found on Ponapi. Many of their cus- 
 toms regarding the dead are abominably filthy and disgusting, such as pre- 
 serving the bodies for days and weeks, and carefully daubing over them- 
 selves the froth or ooze from the mouth of the deceased. The wife 
 will frequently for weeks after the death of her husband continue to 
 sleep beside the corpse, under the same coverlid ; and a mother will 
 sometimes carry the body of her infant about with her till it falls to 
 pieces, and then she will cleanse the bones and carry them. Indeed, it 
 is common to preserve the bones, particularly the skull, of the dead, 
 and carry them about, at times carefully anointing them with oil, and 
 even sharing food with them. 
 
 " Heathenism is here seen in some of its lowest and most disgusting 
 forms, though it may be said in alleviation that there is little of that 
 deliberate cruelty and none of that religious sacrifice of life found in 
 3 
 
18 
 
 many of the groups of the Pacific. Their religious rites differ in no 
 material respects from those already described in connection with other 
 groups. Stones, the incarnations of deities, are found everywhere, 
 some of which are so noted as to be the recipients of gifts of food, and 
 to receive the prayers of certain priestly ones." 
 
 In their moral and social condition they are far, very far below 
 Hawaiians. The natives of the Sandwich Islands are a civilized and 
 Christian people, compared with the Gilbert Islanders. 
 
 XL 
 
 FAREWELL GLANCE AT THE GILBERT ISLANDERS. 
 
 " O soft are the breezes that waye the tallcoooa, 
 
 And sweet are the odors that breathe on the gale; 
 Fair sparkles the wave as it breaks on the coral, 
 Or wafts to the white beach the mariner's sail." 
 
 Before our eyes catch a glimpse of Ebon and our attention is arrest- 
 ed by the Marshall Islanders'let us take one more glance at the dwell- 
 ers upon the low coral islands of the Gilbert Group. Poets may sing 
 of the charms of a tropic isle,'where waves the tall cocoa, and the 
 waves break on the coral ; the disciples of Rosseau may discourse up- 
 on the happy lot of the savage ; but it requires only a passing glance to 
 dispel the poet's dreams and the skeptic's boasts. However much the 
 charms of nature may delight the eye and please the fancy, yet the 
 actual sight of crowds of naked men, women and children, ignorant, 
 filthy, and degraded, is a most sad and heart-affecting spectacle. We 
 envf not the man who can extol the condition of the heathen, who are 
 living separate, destitute and apart from the blessings of Christianity, 
 and much less do we envy those who, from Christian lands, visiting 
 those degraded people, contribute to introduce among them the vices 
 and diseases of civilized society. 
 
 Some of the southern islands of the group have been very much 
 corrupted by the demoralizing influence of foreign intercourse. Not 
 so at Apaiang and Tarawa. But very few foreigners have ever lived 
 among the inhabitants of these two islands, or others in the immediate 
 vicinity. There is little, if anything, to tempt the trader among them, 
 except the traffic in cocoanut oil. It is important that the people 
 should have their desires awakened for something else besides tobacco, 
 in exchange for oil. This will be the result as the influence of the 
 mission extends. Already the happy change has commenced at those 
 centres where the missionary's influence is most felt. Let the tide 
 once commence setting in an opposite direction, and the most happy 
 results will speedily follow. We are not sure but it would work bene- 
 ficially if some of the people could be induced to emigrate to other 
 islands of the Pacific ; the reflex influence would be good upon those 
 who remain at home. Guano laborers might be obtained, we think, 
 with but little difficulty. There are islands destitute of inhabitants 
 where the cocoanut oil trade is yet to be commenced ; the Gilbert 
 islanders are just the men to be employed as laborers, in the same man- 
 
19 
 
 ner Messrs. English & Co. employ the natives of the South Seas, at 
 Fanning's Island. 
 
 It is no uncommon event for newly arrived Europeans and Ameri- 
 cans at Honolulu, to lament the low standard of civilization on the 
 Hawaiian Islands, and prematurely pronounce the missionary enter- 
 prise a failure. We only wish such carpers, growlers and narrow- 
 minded observers could come among us, via the Gilbert Islands. On 
 those islands is to be witnessed pure heathenism, unameliorated and 
 unsoftened by Christianity. Compared with the Gilbert Islanders, Ha- 
 waiians are highly favored, and elevated in their civil and social condi- 
 tion. On returning to the dominions of Kamehameha IVth, we feel 
 that we have once more taken up our abode in a well ordered and 
 settled civil, social, intelligent and religious community. If any of 
 our island readers are dissatisfied with their homes and blessings, we 
 advise them to visit the Gilbert Islanders. Having made such a visit,, 
 we are confident every one will say, in the language of the Psalmist, 
 "The lines have fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly 
 heritage." Another feeling too, we should hope would arise in their 
 minds, akin to that which led Messrs. Bingham, Mahoe. Kanoa and 
 Haina, with their wives, to take Up their abode among that people and 
 spend their lives in teaching the ignorant, elevating the degraded, heal- 
 ing the sick, clothing the naked, preaching to all, and guiding inquiring 
 souls to the Lamb of God, who " taketh away the sins of the world." 
 
 XII. 
 
 FIRST GLIMPSE OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDERS. 
 
 " Strange scenes, strange men." 
 
 A passage of two days from Apaiang, brought the Morning Star to 
 Ebon, Boston or CovelPs Island. This is the most southerly of the 
 Ralick chain. Before our vessel came to anchor, scores of the island- 
 ers were swarming our deck. At a glance we saw that a new people 
 dwelt upon this group; lively, active, talkative, prying, shrewd and 
 ready to take advantage, unless we were upon the look-out. The Rev. 
 Mr. Doane came off in a large boat paddled by the principal chiefs of 
 the island. We received such a welcome as none but the lonely 
 missionary can give to one who pays him an unexpected visit. Having 
 heard the island news and reported the general items of news respect- 
 ing the outside world, we left the vessel for a few days' residence on 
 shore. Here we spent from Wednesday evening until the following 
 Monday. During that period our ears were occupied in listening to 
 narratives of interest respecting the people, our eyes were glancing 
 about at the " strange scenes, strange men," passing before us, and our 
 feet were wearied in rambling over the island and reefs. We felt, at 
 first, rather bewildered, for the contrast was great between the dull, 
 stolid, and indolent Polynesians inhabiting the Gilbert Islands, and. 
 the Yankee, driving and go-a-head people of Ebon. Having adjusted 
 our mental reckoning, we began to digest and arrange the facts we had 
 gathered, and jot down the impressions which had been made upon our 
 
20 
 
 mind. The mission upon Ebon has been most interesting from its 
 commencement. The very establishment of the mission is connected 
 with a series of most providential and unlocked for incidents. 
 
 XIII. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE MISSION TO MARSHALL ISLANDS. 
 
 When the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Pierson arrived in Honolulu, in 1855, 
 they made known their wish to obtain a passage to Ualan or Strong's 
 Island, one of the Caroline Group. The following statement made by 
 Dr. Pierson, we copy from the Missionary Herald of September, 1855. 
 
 "In conversation with a man a few days since,! happened to ask him 
 if he knew of any opportunity by which we could reach Strong's Isl- 
 and during the summer. He replied that there was a vessel in port, 
 engaged in sperm-whaling and procuring cocoanut oil ; and as the 
 Kingsmill Group is the region for the oil, possibly he would cruise be- 
 yond for whales, and so touch at Strong's Island. Upon this suggestion, 
 I went to see the captain, and asked him where he intended to cruise. 
 He replied, Among the Kingsmill Islands.' I inquired if he would 
 visit the Caroline Islands. He said, No.' I told him that I wished 
 to find a vessel that would go to Strong's Island. He said that he was 
 not going into that region. He said that the best he could do would be 
 to take me to the Kingsmill Islands and leave me there ; and probably 
 in a few months I should find a passage to Strong's Island. 
 
 " He then turned and looked at me very closely, and asked, * In what 
 capacity do you go ?' I replied, As a missionary.' He looked at 
 me very seriously for a minute or more, without saying a word ; after 
 which he said, ' I have a mind to take you to Strong's Island ; for I 
 love the missionary work. I want missionaries to be placed on every 
 island in the ocean ; and I am willing to do what I can for the cause. 
 Whalers have been a curse to these islands long enough ; and I am 
 determined to do what I can for their good, so as to have righteousness 
 and justice established upon them.' After talking with him some 
 time, he said if we were disposed to take a passage with him, and 
 cruise along through the Kingsmill and Radick groups, stopping at some 
 ten or twelve or more of these islands, he would take us to Strong's 
 Island ; but it would be three or four months before we should arrive at 
 the end of our journey. 
 
 " Captain Handy has been visiting these islands regularly for about 
 seventeen years for cocoanut oil, has become well acquainted with 
 many of the natives, and understands the languages to a certain extent. 
 Indeed, he had lived upon one of the islands for several months. He 
 is very desirous to have missionaries settle upon both these groups of 
 islands, especially upon the Radack and Ralick Chains. There are no 
 foreigners residing upon them ; and we might preoccupy the ground, 
 and so avoid many difficulties that come from wicked foreigners who 
 have gained influence before the arrival of missionaries. These chains 
 of islands are both under one king, and all speak one language. The 
 Radick and Rahck Chains compose Marshall's Group of islands. They 
 
lie near together, and contain at least fifteen thousand inhabitants. He 
 says this in one of most interesting places in the world for a mission." 
 
 After conferring with the Directors of the Hawaiian Missionary So- 
 ciety, Mr. Pierson was advised to engage a passage with Captain Han- 
 dy. Continuing his narrative, he writes as follows : 
 
 " Mr. Damon and myself called upon the captain immediately, but he 
 said that he could not do anything without first consulting his officers. 
 He took us on board, and summoned the mates and steward to the cabin, 
 and told them that there was ' a great talk on shore, and some people 
 wanted to put missionaries on board for the islands.' The first mate 
 said, ' I for one am glad of it. We need a missionary among us ; and 
 I am willing to take them.' Another said, ' Whalers have done so 
 much evil to the people on these islands, that I will do anything I can 
 for their good. I like the plan ; and I want the missionaries to go with 
 us.' The other said that he was very much pleased with the proposi- 
 tion. And the steward said that nothing should be wanting on his part 
 to make us comfortable. Arrangements were then made for our pass- 
 age. The captain said that he would give me his state-room ; and the 
 first mate said that he would give his to the native helper, who is to 
 go with us. 
 
 " The missionary brethren were so much interested in Captain Han- 
 dy'* views, in regard to a mission on Kingsmill and Radack's Islands, 
 thut they invited him to meet them, and give them more definite infor- 
 mation. To this he cheerfully assented, and brought his chart along, 
 and gave them a very full description of that part of the seas, the 
 state of society, the manners and customs of the people on the different 
 islands. All were very much interested in his account, and felt con- 
 vinced that the time had come when these islands ought to be occupied 
 by missionaries. We are filled with joy that our blessed Lord and 
 Saviour has provided such a favorable opportunity for us to explore lands 
 that have never hitherto been visited by a missionary." 
 
 XIV, 
 
 REV. DR. PIERSON AND CAPT. HANDY, PEACEMAKERS. 
 
 The cruise of the bark Belle, forms an important era in the bloody 
 history of the inhabitants of the Marshall Islands. The Belle sailed 
 from Honolulu, May 24th, 1855, having Dr. and Mrs. Pierson on board 
 as passengers. Nearly a year elapsed before any intelligence was re- 
 ceived respecting the vessel. A brief sketch of Dr. Pierson's explora- 
 tions, will be found in the Friend of June 12, 1856. From that sketch 
 we copy as follows : " After leaving the Kingsmill Islands, the Belle 
 cruised among the Mulgrave Islands. The islands have been explored 
 but little, upon some of them probably no white man ever landed. 
 Capt. Handy made arrangements for opening a trade with the people ; 
 which afforded our missionary party an excellent opportunity for ex- 
 ploration. A royal party, consisting of Her Royal Highness the Prin- 
 cess Nemaira, her husband, and five attendants, took passage on board 
 the Belle and cruised about for several days. The natives expressed 
 
a strong desire to have missionaries located among them, and the King 
 promised his protection. Dr. Pierson is hoping ere long to return 
 and commence a mission there." It was our privilege to meet 
 Nemaira, the Princess mentioned in the above extract. She is a niece 
 of Kaibuke, who is of so much importance among the Marshall 
 Islanders, and whose character we have elsewhere sketched. 
 
 During that cruise, Capt. Handy, who had obtained a tolerable ac- 
 quaintance with the Ebon language, exerted his influence, in conjunc- 
 tion with that of Dr. Pierson, to persuade the chiefs to desist from 
 their bloody policy, which had hitherto governed them in their inter- 
 course with foreigners. The chiefs promised Dr. Pierson and Capt. 
 Handy, that they would not cut off any more ships, or put any more 
 foreigners to death who might chance to be cast upon their shores. We 
 are most happy to report, that so far as we have been able to ascertain 
 the facts, the chiefs have scrupulously kept their word. This fact 
 should surely be set down to their credit, and serve to soften our judg- 
 ment in regard to this people. In justification of their bloody policy 
 and excuse of this treatment, the chiefs set up the plea of the ill- 
 treatment which they had received from foreigners. Dr. Pierson, in 
 his report of the cruise of the Belle, remarks as follows : 
 
 " There are no whites on these islands at present, and no white man 
 has ever lived on any of them for any length of time. The natives 
 have generally shown a hostile spirit to foreigners. Several vessels 
 have been cut off, and a great number of foreigners killed at different 
 times. The reason given for this conduct is, that when the king 
 (Kaibuke) was a young man, a (whale) ship visited Ebon, and a native 
 stole something, which gave occasion for disturbance. A general at- 
 tack was made by natives and many were killed, among them Kai- 
 buke's, oldest brother, and he (Kaibuke) received a wound in the arm 
 from a spade, which we saw. He declared that he would have revenge, 
 that he would kill all the whites he could, and cut off a vessel if 
 possible. His order to this effect has never been revoked until recently." 
 See Missionary Herald, for March, 1858. 
 
 While we rejoice that the chiefs should have chosen to pursue a 
 different policy, and follow wiser counsels, who can withhold his admira- 
 tion of the mild and peaceful mission of Dr. Pierson and Capt. Handy? 
 Would that all shipmasters, and especially all masters of whale ships, 
 had pursued a similar policy to that of Capt. Handy, towards both the 
 natives and missionaries. Now that Capt. H. has probably retired 
 from the toils, perils and anxieties of a sea-faring life, it must be to 
 him a source of unspeakable satisfaction, that during his last voyage 
 among the savages of the the Marshall Islands, he initiated a policy of 
 good will and kindness towards foreigners in the place of their for- 
 mer cold-blooded and murderous practices; and to Dr. Pierson, who 
 was compelled by the sickness of wife, to retire from his field of labor 
 among this people, it must be a source of the purest joy, that his labors 
 as the pioneer missionary, were not in vain, but that now a plentiful 
 harvest is being gathered trom the gospel seed which was- sown by his 
 hands. 
 
23 
 
 In referring to the efforts of Dr. Pierson and Capt. Handy, it would 
 be unbecoming, as well as unjust, not to acknowledge the influence and 
 mild persuasion of Mrs. Pierson. Her influence with Nemaira, the sis- 
 ter of Kaibuke, was very great. She formed an attachment for Mrs. 
 Pierson, which still remains, and no opportunity is lost to make inqui- 
 ries for this missionary lady and first white female who ventured to 
 risk her life among the savages of the Marshall Islands. Her mission 
 was a noble one, and although ill-health [compelled her early to retire 
 from active missionary labors among that people, she may in her home 
 among the people of California, cherish the gratifying reflection, that 
 having done what she could and all she could, her influence is still 
 felt in curbing the violent passions, and checking the savage ferocity 
 of men who had previously imbrued their hands in the blood of many 
 who had been unfortunately cast upon their shores. " Blessed are the 
 peacemakers." 
 
 XV. 
 
 FORMER INTERCOURSE OF FOREIGNERS WITH THE 
 MARSHALL ISLANDERS. 
 
 Some facts have already been published, and others are now being 
 discovered, which show that the Marshall Islanders have imbrued their 
 hands in the blood of many strangers and seamen, who have visited 
 their islands. We hope that a new era has dawned upon those be- 
 nighted islanders. If the mission established upon Ebon has done 
 no other good, we trust that it has effectually stayed the effusion of 
 blood and the cruel murder of any unfortunate mariners who might 
 be driven by stress of weather, or other causes, to seek safety among 
 the people of the Marshall Islands. 
 
 The following list of murders and massacres, will suffice to show 
 that the time has come when an end should be put to such bloody 
 transactions. 
 
 In 1834, Capt. Dowsett, mysteriously disappeared at the Piscadores, 
 one of the most northerly islands of Ralick Chain. We still hope 
 as the missionaries extend'their work northward, that they will be able 
 to ascertain something more definite in regard to his fate. We ex- 
 press this opinion, because the islanders have hitherto been very cau- 
 tious about speaking of formei transactions with foreigners. As one 
 and another joins the mission party, facts are being revealed in regard 
 to the past history of foreign intercourse. 
 
 In 1845, Capt. Cheyne, of the Naid, had trouble with the 
 dwellers upon Ebon, and one man was killed upon the spot, besides 
 the nephew of the highest chief of the Ralick Chain was wounded and 
 died soon after landing. 
 
 Dr. Gulick, in his lectures, refers to a whale ship that was nearly 
 cut off, at Namarik, (Baring's Island) about the same time, (1845), 
 and also two whale boat's crews came ashore and the crews were all 
 killed at Ebon. 
 
 During our visit to Ebon, we also heard the story of a boat's crew 
 
24 
 
 which landed upon Ebon, some years since, who had plenty of money. 
 A servant woman in the employ of Mrs. Doane, tells this story : When 
 she was a little girl, a boat came to Ebon with six men in it. They 
 had plenty of food in the boat but came for water. Three of the men 
 had on white shirts, and were large, good looking men, not sailors. 
 They had money in a Hingham box or bucket. They had small 
 knives in their pockets. They were all killed by the natives. Their 
 boat was destroyed. Their clothes were put out of the way. She 
 saw them lying together on the ground after they were killed. Their 
 bodies were subsequently put out of the way. The natives threw gold 
 pieces about, and of some they made fish hooks. From the age of this 
 woman and the particulars which she has stated, we are led to suppose 
 this boat may have belonged to the ill-fated brig William Neilson, 
 Capt. Weston, who was accompanied by Capt. Dominis and Commis- 
 sioner Brown as passengers. It is by no means unreasonable to sup- 
 pose that the brig may have struck upon some one of the innumerable 
 reefs of this part of the Pacific. 
 
 From the Friend of May 15, 1847, we copy the following para- 
 graphs : 
 
 " THE MISSING BRIG WM. NEILSON. This vessel left the port of Hon- 
 olulu, August 5, 1846, for China, expecting to return as early as 
 Christmas. Fears have been for months entertained respecting her fate, 
 but conjecture has inspired the hope that she was not lost; perhaps, she 
 might be sold or otherwise detained. The ' Mary/ which left China, 
 March 2d, reports that up to that date no intelligeace had been re- 
 ceived respecting her. We can with difficulty bring our mind to the 
 conclusion that all on board have perished and not one survives to 
 report the story of her disaster. There is the possibility, that like 
 the brig ' Express,' the Wm. Neilson ' may have been wrecked on 
 that some of the numerous islands in that part of the broad Pacific. 
 It is reported however, that a succession of terrible gales and typhoons 
 was experienced in that region of the ocean during the months of Sep- 
 tember, October and November. Ex. U. S. Commissioner, Brown, 
 and Capt. Dominis, passengers, and Capt. Weston commanding the 
 brig, are removed from their families, which will not soon cease to 
 mourn the absent husband and father, while a wide circle of friends 
 and relations will deeply sympathize with the bereaved. No person in 
 our community was more generally esteemed for his many excellen- 
 cies as a neighbor, friend and citizen, than Capt. Dominis, and his 
 family have met with an irreparable loss. 
 
 "During Mr. Brown's long residence at the islands, he gained many 
 friends, and his private character, we believe, to have been above re- 
 proach. There are many in this quarter of the world who will sym- 
 pathize with his deeply afflicted family. There are many here, who 
 will also sympathize with the family of Capt. Weston. On a former 
 voyage Mrs. Weston accompanied her husband to our shores, when he 
 commanded the ship Congaree. In addition to the above mentioned in- 
 dividuals, ^it becomes our duty to record the names of others belonging 
 to the ship's company, viz: Mr. George Brown, Junior, passenger ; Mr. 
 Charles Green, a passenger, belonging to Barnstable, Mass. He came 
 
25 
 
 to the islands as Capt. Dominis' 1st officer, on board the schooner 
 Swallow. One Chinaman and five Lascar sailors were also passen- 
 gers. 
 
 u Belonging to the crew of the brig, were the following : 1st officer. 
 Mr. Harnmet, Martha's Vinyard ; 2d officer, Mr. Benson, Baltimore, 
 Md. Seamen, Seth P. Peterson and Amherst Peterson, brothers, be- 
 longing to Marshfield, Massachusetts. David Mann and Walter Tybu, 
 both belonging to Hanover, Mass. The names of cook and steward, 
 we are unable to learn. Two seamen, John Pitts and J. Gilbert, were 
 discharged sick at this port, just before the sailing of the vessel. 
 
 " The vessel, we are informed, was insured, as well as the whole, or 
 a part of the cargo, $22,000 in specie." 
 
 In October, 1852, the schooner Glencoe of San Francisco, was 
 burnt and crew murdered by the inabitants of Ebon. In this affair the 
 chiefs took no part, for they were absent from the island. The Gle?i- 
 C9 anchored near the anchorage ground where the Morning Star 
 lay in safety during our visit, and where we enjoyed the most friendly 
 intercourse with the people. 
 
 A short time after the bloody affair of the Glencoe, it is reported 
 that a brig touched at Ebon, and active preparations were made by the 
 chiefs and people to take the vessel and murder all hands. Just as the 
 vessel was about to drop her anchor, the wind veered and the master of 
 the brig concluded it unsafe to anchor. Thus the vessel escaped, in a 
 manner most providential. The vessel would have anchored where 
 the Morning Star lay, while we remained at Ebon. 
 
 In December, 1852, (two months after the sad affair of the Glencoe,) 
 the Sea Nymph, of San Francisco, Capt. McKensie, was cut off at 
 Jaluit or Bonham's Island. The only survivor of Capt. McKensie's 
 crew, was brought to Honolulu about three years ago. The hull of the 
 vessel is now to be seen in the spot where she was burnt and sunk by 
 the natives. Dr. Gulick reports the Sea Nymph as belonging to San 
 Francisco, but unless we are much mistaken, she was under the British 
 flag. 
 
 During our visit to Ebon, we also heard of a large ship which went 
 on shore at Bikini, one of the most northern islands of the Kalick 
 Chain. Report says that the ship's company embarked in their boats, 
 but left plenty of articles on the ship, and among other things left be- 
 hind, was a black New Foundland dog, which the natives rescued, and 
 which is now reported to be among the islanders. We could not ascer- 
 tain the name of the ship, or the year when the wreck occurred. We 
 hope yet to learn additional particulars in regard to this wreck. 
 
 It seems somewhat remarkable that the foregoing facts have not at- 
 tracted the attention of either the British or American naval com- 
 manding officers upon the Pacific Station. From facts which came 
 under our notice while at Ebon, we are confident that the chiefs are 
 fearful that even yet they may be called to account for some one of the 
 many bloody deeds which have been perpetrated within their domin- 
 ions. The retributive punishment, which a man.of-war might inflict 
 conveys a terror to their minds. A man-of-war they have never seen, 
 but the name is familiar to their ears. It may seem strange, but it 
 4 
 
26 
 
 is nevertheless true, there are many islands, even groups of islands, in 
 the Pacific, as yet unvisited by either an English or American vessel 
 of war. We do not plead for the visit of vessels-of-war to the 
 Marshall Islands, for the protection of the missionaries, or because we 
 have lost our faith in missions, but for the protection of commerce 
 and the lives of wrecked mariners. We believe the time has come 
 when it would be feasible to form a treaty with those people. The 
 chiefs, through the interpretation of the missionaries, could be made 
 to understand the nature of treaty-stipulations. Should a vessel of 
 *var visit those islanders, they could be made to understand that, 
 should further massacres and murders occur, they would be held re- 
 sponsible. We can readily see that such a visit might be productive 
 of incalculable good. A judicious commander ought however to be 
 selected for the purpose, otherwise more evil than good would be the 
 the result. 
 
 We are not ignorant of the fact that an American vessel of war, the 
 schooner Dolphin, Lieut. Percival, once visited Mili, or Mulgrave Island, 
 which is the most southern of the Radack Chain. The occasion of 
 that visit (1825) was for the purpose of rescuing a portion of the crew 
 of the American whaleship Globe, on board of which a mutiny had 
 occurred. The Morning Star has visited that island, and the spot was 
 pointed out where the Globe anchored. The mutineers were killed by 
 the natives in consequence of their cruel treatment of the females. 
 The Dolphin was upon her return passage from the Mulgraves, when 
 she touched at Honolulu, and those disgraceful scenes occurred, which 
 gave Lieut. Percival an unenviable notoriety, and prevented him from 
 obtaining the command of another vessel for nearly twenty years. He 
 still lives, and in his old age doubtless regrets the mad freaks of his 
 youth. 
 
 We should seriously deprecate the consequences if a vessel of war 
 should be sent to call the islanders to account for the past, for we are 
 not sure but in most instances, there may have been injury and insult 
 inflicted upon the islanders, before they were led to lift the murderous 
 knife. Let " by-gones be by-gones," but for the future let there be a 
 fair and full understanding that if new murders are committed, the 
 perpetrators will be held to a strict account. Such a policy would ex- 
 ert a most beneficial and salutary influence. The chiefs are now 
 haughty and overbearing, and voyaging about in their big war ca- 
 noes or proas, imagine that they are above law, and hence are lawless. 
 The missionary may teach the people the gospel and thereby accom- 
 plish incalculable good, but he cannot do every thing. The following 
 facts however, will show that he can work with spiritual weapons 
 when threatened with carnal. On a certain occasion, a haughty and' 
 overbearing chief, told the missionary that it was " Ebon fashion,' 
 when foreigners conducted in a manner not to please the chiefs, that 
 they put them out of the way, or in other words, acted upon the prin- 
 ciple, that " dead men could tell no tales." This was Ebon fashion. 
 INow the missionary wished to show this proud and lawless chief, what 
 was the Christian fashion of treating one's enemies ; so he conducted 
 the chief into his study, and knelt down and: prayed for him and his 
 
27 
 
 people. For writes the apostle Paul, " the weapons of our warfare, 
 are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of stony 
 holds." We have more faith in the prayers and teachings of the mis- 
 sionary ,to christianize and civilize the rude and savage Marshall Island- 
 ers, than in commerce or warships. Let the missionary and school 
 teacher go among them with a translation of Webster's spelling book, 
 and the New Testament, and the most happy results may be looked 
 for ; children taught to sing 
 
 " There is a happy land." 
 we do not believe will grow up to become murderers and pirates. 
 
 XVI. 
 
 KAIBUKE. 
 
 This is the name of one of the most remarkable personages we met 
 at Ebon. He is sometimes spoken of as the King, but that is however 
 far from being true. He is not even so high a chief as some others, or 
 even his elder brother. On one occasion both he and his brother visit- 
 ted Mr. Doane, and we saw Kaibuke, take a seat on the opposite side of 
 the room, thus paying marked deference to that elder brother. He is 
 nevertheless an important character among his people, and upon his 
 word depends the life or death of the people. We could not learn, as 
 there was really any person who could be officially denominated as His 
 Majesty, or His Imperial Majesty, or the President. The government 
 of the islands is in the hands of a body of haughty, imperious and un- 
 scrupulous chiefs, whose caprices and whims are the laws of their do- 
 minions. Among these chiefs, Kaibuke has gained an ascendancy and 
 influence, in consequence of his energy, tact, impudence and adroit- 
 ness. He is a complete politician, placed in a position to carry his 
 measures by force, if they cannot be promoted by mildness. He is ex- 
 ceedingly jealous of the teaching of the missionaries, yet has always 
 maintained a friendly intercourse with them. This must be said to his 
 credit, that he has always kept his word that he originally made to Dr. 
 Pierson, that he would protect the mission. He took Dr. Pierson for 
 "his son," and Mr. Doane, "his friend," which is an expressive method 
 of speaking in the language of Ebon. It is also in his favor, that when 
 the Morning Star first entered the lagoon of Ebon, in 1857, he, aided by 
 another high chief, prevented her being run ashore and pillaged, as no 
 doubt some of the chiefs and many of the natives intended should have 
 been her fate. 
 
 Kaibuke occupies the position of Prime Minister or Secretary of 
 State, although such terms are foreign to the Ebon dialect. He was at 
 church the Sabbath morning we spent at Ebon. The question was 
 asked him in the presence of the audience if he would protect addi- 
 tional missionaries, if they were sent to Ebon. He gave us his word 
 that he would. 
 
 We could relate many stories which were told respecting his du- 
 plicity, cruelty and lack of trust worthiness, but we prefer to allow our 
 readers to remain in ignorance of the dark side of his character. Kai- 
 
28 
 
 buke is no doubt more or less implicated in some of those deeds oi 
 blood which have been perpetrated upon the Marshall Islands. We 
 hope however better things for him in time to come. Those who have 
 gone thither as teachers have not failed to point out to him the better 
 way, or that the eye of Jehovah is continually upenhim, and that he will 
 be held responsible by the King of kings. 
 
 Kaibuke, takes his name from that of a ship, in the language of New 
 Zealand. Several years ago a ship from the " south seas " visited the 
 islands. The ship was called Kaibuke, so he took that name. Another 
 chief took the name of Capt. Terry, from the name of the commander 
 of the vessel. 
 
 We visited Kaibuke's residence, and found him surrounded by his 
 wives, (of whom he has four,) and his eleven children, most of whom 
 could not be said to be encumbered with a superabundance of clothing. 
 He is a man apparently about fifty-five years of age, with a coun- 
 tenance indicative of energy and good nature, although not of noble- 
 ness and magnanimity. We account him however a remarkable man, 
 and if not too old to learn, we hope to hear better reports of him here- 
 after. 
 
 The following incidents may serve to illustrate the character of this 
 Ebonite politician and Prime Minister. On our first interview, a 
 surprising intimacy and familiarity was manifest on his part. Mr. 
 Doane introduced us as " the missionary at Oahu, to foreigners and 
 seamen." Kaibuke replied, "Mikinari Oahu, Mikinari very good." 
 His eye caught our black coat. He took hold of the sleeve saying, 
 11 Me like very good." Remembering the precept that " He that hath 
 two coats, let him impart to him that hath none" we gave to it a 
 literal interpretation. Various were the interviews which \ve 
 had with this Ebon official. Sometimes we conversed upon mat- 
 ters grave and solemn, and at others we carried on trade in a small 
 way, i. e. exchanging fish hooks and jack knives for the curiosities of 
 the country. At the interview alluded to above, when we called at his 
 residence, it so happened that after a long walk, we were exceedingly 
 thirsty, hence we asked for a little water. He said, " will you not 
 have a cocoanut." We assented, of course. One of his attendants 
 was immediately sent off and up one of those gracefully waving trees 
 adorning the coral islands of Micronesia. Soon the cocoanuts were 
 brought, one for each of us present. We passed ours to His Excellency, 
 but he declined. When we all had quenched our thirst, Kaibuke very 
 politely intimated that a fish-hook apiece would be acceptable for the 
 nuts. We (including our two companions) paid His Excellency, 
 Kuibuke, three fish hooks for three cocoanuts, and took our departure. 
 We only mention this fact as an illustration of Kaibuke's re- 
 markable character ! If hereafter, in the progress of learning, he 
 should ever acquire a knowledge of the English language, and these 
 remarks upon his character should fall under his eye, he may be 
 assured that "the missionary at Oahu" has followed Othello's parting 
 injunction, 
 
 14 And naught set down in malice." 
 
XVII. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE MARSHALL ISLANDERS. 
 
 Much has been said and written about the origin of various inhabi- 
 tants scattered over the islands of Polynesia. Whatever theory may 
 be formed respecting Hawaiians, Tahitians, Samoans, or Kingsmill 
 Islanders, we are confident but one opinion can be true respecting the 
 Marshall Islanders. They are unmistakably of Japanese extraction. 
 We know that in making the assertion, we are at variance with the 
 opinions of some ethnological writers. Whoever saw the Japanese 
 embassy visiting the United States in 1860, and the Marshall Island- 
 ers, would say that they were sprung from the same original stock. 
 Their features and physical organization are most strikingly similar. 
 We could not discover one Polynesian trait, feature or habit among 
 them. Like the Japanese and Chinese, they are remarkably indus- 
 trious. They are constantly at work, whether upon the land or sea. 
 They have a saying " Ebon people never tire." This trait is most 
 strikingly in contrast with all the Polynesian tribes, so proverbially in- 
 dolent. 
 
 The Japanese Princes are accustomed to traverse the empire, with 
 large retinues, and thousands of retainers; the Marshall Islanders per- 
 form similar journeys upon the sea. Every year the chiefs of the 
 Marshall Islands make long voyages, from island to island of the 
 group. We were so fortunate as to meet the entire company of 
 the chiefs of the Ralick Chain of islands, at Ebon. They were 
 about fitting off for a summer cruise to the north. Their large 
 war canoes were hauled upon the sand beach. On the day of our 
 arrival, there had been a race of canoes across the lagoon. We 
 were informed that thirty large proas or war canoes, would form 
 the expedition north, manned by five hundred followers of these chiefs, 
 who voyage in royal state. These proas are propelled by a large 
 triangular sail, which is so hung upon the mast that it will propel the 
 proa either way. Their arrangements for a rudder, is a paddle fast- 
 ened by a rope, and which can readily be changed from one end of the 
 proa to the other. They never propel these proas by paddles, but trust al- 
 together to the winds. 
 
 In subsequent investigations, it will be interesting to ascertain if there 
 are not strong affinities between the Japanese and Ebon languages. 
 We are not prepared to hazard even an opinion upon this subject, but 
 still the thought has arisen in our mind, from reading the .Rev. Mr. 
 Doane's remarks upon " The Ebon and Ponapi Dialects Compared," 
 published in the Friend of Feb. 1860, that when a similar comparison 
 shall embrace the Japanese language, that will be found to be the ba- 
 sis of both the Ebon and Ponapian dialects. There is no surer meth- 
 od of tracing the migration of nations and tribes over the continents, 
 islands and oceans of our globe, than by ferreting out the roots and 
 radicals of their languages. In glancing an eye upon a good map of 
 the Pacific, it will appear that the Marshall and Caroline Islands are 
 separated from the Japanese Islands by a breadth of ocean which 
 
30 
 
 might be passed over by junks drifting away from land. In looking 
 at the present condition, customs and habits of the Marshall Islanders;, 
 we see no great disimilarity between them and the Japanese, which 
 might not have arisen from their isolated and insular position. 
 
 In further confirmation of this opinion that the Marshall Islanders are 
 an offshoot of the Japanese, we would refer to their religious opinion?. 
 They do not worship idols, but hold their ancestors in great veneration. 
 They have their consecrated groves and sacred spots. Superstitious 
 or religious ideas do not appear to have had a very strong hold upon 
 their minds. Mr. Doane remarked to us, that they were almost atheists. 
 Who does not rejoice that they now are to have made known to them a 
 knowledge of the one only true God ? 
 
 XVlll. 
 
 CHEERING PROSPECTS OF THE EBON MISSION. 
 
 From our knowledge of the Marshall Islanders, knowing them to 
 have been extremely hostile to foreigners, as much so as the Japanese, 
 and in all respects so unlike Polynesians generally, we were not pre- 
 pared to witness much encouragement to prosecute the mission. This 
 -mission was first established by Messrs. Doane and Pierson, in 1857, 
 There have never been but two mission-families at the same time upon 
 the island. Dr. Pierson left on account of his wife's sickness, at the 
 end of his second year's labor. Dr. Gulick and family remained there 
 but one year, and at present the Kev. Mr. Doane and Mr. Aea, the 
 Hawaiian Missionary, are occupying the field. 
 
 The gospel has made a decided impression upon the people. Preach- 
 ing is regularly maintained at the station, and upon an islet on the 
 opposite side of the lagoon, to which station Mr. Doane goes every 
 Sabbath afternoon. Mr. Aea teaches a station school and visits two 
 islets for teaching schools, once a week. His services are invaluable. 
 He has now been upon the island only nine months, yet he speaks the 
 language with fluency, and is daily perfecting himself in speaking and 
 writing. He began to address the people when he had been there but 
 three months. We visited his school. When calling the roll of eighty 
 pupils, forty-three answered to their names. We heard them read, saw 
 them write, and witnessed their ability in ciphering. Their pro- 
 gress was really commendable, considering that not yet four 
 years have elapsed since the missionaries began to reduce the lan- 
 guage to a written form. It must be borne in mind, that there are no 
 reading or school books in the Ebon dialect, but what have been pre- 
 pared and even printed by them, upon a little miserable hand press, 
 that would not be worth in New York five dollars. Mr. Doane and 
 Aea work at type-setting and tjve' press, never having been iniatiated 
 into the mysteries of a printirig office before going to Ebon. They 
 have printed at this station an elementary book for children learning 
 to read, a few of the first chapters of Matthew, and a small collection of 
 hymns. Some of these were written by Dr. and Mrs. Pierson, who 
 are now in California, With these few meagre helps, these missionaries 
 
31 
 
 are rapidly teaching the children and adults of Ebon and the neigh- 
 boring islands to read. In all their instruction they mingle scrip- 
 tural truth in every variety of form. It was exceedingly sur- 
 prising to witness the readiness with which the pupils in the day and 
 Sabbath schools, answered the questions addressed to them. There was 
 a sprightliness, activity, aptness and quickness of perception which 
 gave the pleasing evidence that the youth of Ebon would not fall be- 
 hind the youth of other and more favored lands, if they could only 
 enjoy similar advantages. The missionaries have certainly secured a 
 hold upon the rising generation which promises a rich harvest in future 
 years. 
 
 Not only have the youth of Ebon afforded gratifying evidence of 
 becoming good scholars, but several have already become, in the ex- 
 pressive language of the islanders, " lovers of Jesus." Christians are 
 styled " lovers of Jesus." We met some of these young people, and 
 surely it afforded a joy which words cannot express, to witness their 
 meek and gentle demeanor, and hear Mr. Doane speak of their humble, 
 and consistent walk. One of these may be said to have met a martyr's 
 death, for he was cruelly put to death by a company of revengeful 
 chiefs, urged onward by hatred and passion, and the lying tongue of 
 a base woman. We were assured that hatred of the young man's 
 Christian principles had no small influence in hastening forward his 
 death. May the blood of the martyr prove the seed of the church, 
 in this, as it has in numerous other instances. 
 
 This leads us to remark that, while the truth is manifestly and 
 rapidly making progress upon Ebon, among the common people, there 
 are those who are decidedly opposed to the movement. Many of the 
 high chiefs, although apparently upon good terms with the mission- 
 aries, are at heart inimical to the preaching of the gospel. These 
 persons tolerate the mission, because, indirectly, it brings ships and 
 trade to their islands ; beyond this, they are exceedingly suspicious of 
 the work which has commenced among their hitherto secluded islands. 
 There are two opposing parties, and the present indications are, that 
 ere long there will be a mighty struggle for the supremacy. It would 
 be no surprising thing if the mission should be violently opposed by a 
 powerful body of the chiefs, who look with a jealous eye upon the 
 fact that their subjects are learning to read and acquire knowledge. 
 These chiefs are keen and shrewd men, and foresee that with the in- 
 crease of knowledge among the commoners, will arise a party to oppose 
 the old and cruel practices of the rulers of the land. Only upon a 
 much smaller scale, the same elements are at work among the inhabi- 
 tants of the Marshall Islands, which were at work among the Romans 
 and other ancient nations in the early ages of Christianity, when the 
 Apostles went forth in obedience to the Saviour's command, to make 
 disciples of all nations. If this mission goes forward as it has been thus 
 auspiciously commenced, we may confidently look for great and glo- 
 rious results. A good beginning has been made. A foothold has been 
 secured. Gospel seed has been sown. It is already springing up. 
 " Say not ye, there are four months, and then cometh harvest? Behold, 
 I say unto you, lift up your eyes, and look on the fields, for they are 
 white already to harvest." John iv:35. 
 
32 
 XfX. 
 
 AN AMERICAN MISSIONARY WITH HIS COAT OFF, AND 
 
 AN HAWAIIAN MISSIONARY WITH HIS SLEEVES 
 
 ROLLED UP. 
 
 We witnessed a scene on one of the islets encircling the lagoon of 
 Ebon, which would have gratified the friends of education and missions. 
 After the Sabbath morning services at the Mission Station, it was our 
 privilege to accompany Messrs. Doane and Aea to their out-station 
 on the opposite side of the lagoon. We were just one hour crossing 
 the lagoon. On approaching the shore, Mr. Doane skilfully piloted 
 our boat through a narrow opening in the reef, scarcely wide enough to 
 allow the boat to pass. We entered the smooth waters within the 
 barrier reef, and skimming along over beds of coral, of every shape, va- 
 riety and color, saw the fish darting in and out from under the rocky 
 branching marine forest. 
 
 As we landed, a group of bright-eyed and laughing children gave us a 
 cordial welcome. We proceeded immediately to the meeting or school 
 house, where an audience of over one hundred soon gathered. The fe- 
 males were all modestly attired, their hair neatly combed and parted, 
 and many wore chaplets of fresh flowers. The house was filled, even 
 overflowing, and as closely packed as the hold of a slaver. The Ket. 
 Mr. Doane conducted the services. He introduced the strangers, 
 who made short addresses. Then followed the school exercise. The 
 whole audience, old and young, arranged themselves into groups of 
 about eight or ten. Mr. Doane, Aea, and a few young men, or rather 
 boys, who could read, sat down upon the mats to teach these ignorant 
 islanders the rudiments of their language. Truly the scene was one 
 to be remembered by those of us to whom such scenes were new. 
 Mr. Doane took of his coat, and Aea rolled up his sleeves. They en- 
 gaged in the work with an energy and zeal, earnestness and cheerful- 
 ness, that imparted life and animation to the school, which banished 
 everything like drowsiness or inattention. Every eye and ear was 
 awake. We never saw more hearty study or more promising pupils. 
 The sounds of 
 
 " ba, be, bo, bu, 
 am, om, im, urn, em," 
 
 are still ringing in our ears. The voices of the Ebonites are by no 
 means harsh or unpleasant. Mr. Doane has arranged some of the 
 elementary exercises, in such a manner that they form a simple chant, 
 rendering the lessons very easy of remembrance. The interesting- 
 school was opened by singing " There is a Happy Land," and closed 
 by a hymn, in the Ebon language. 
 
33 
 XX, 
 
 DEFERENCE TO RANK AMONG MARSHALL ISLANDERS. 
 
 " Honor thy Father and thy Mother," 
 
 Is a command which God gave to Moses upon Sinai. The Marshall 
 Islanders reverse this law, and inculcate the principle, " parents honor 
 your children." The oldest son of a family rules the household. He 
 is never checked or restrained, but his will is law and his caprice the 
 rule. While visiting Mr. Doane's family, we noticed a chief pass some 
 food to his little son, which had been given him by Mr. Doane. The 
 father did not even taste of the food, before offering it to his son. We 
 were informed that should the oldest son even kill his father, or any 
 member of the family, he would not be called to account ! 
 
 One of the most serious difficulties into which Mr. Doane ha^ ever 
 been brought, was when he unintentionally treated the oldest son of a 
 high chief, in a manner which was interpreted as an insult by the chief. 
 The lad insulted was a young sans culotte sprig of the highest blood. 
 His father fired up and threatened. He defied the terrors of a man-of- 
 war ! He intimated that the missionary's life might be the forfeiture, 
 or that he might be disposed of as so many other foreigners had been ! 
 Mr. Doane calmly remonstrated. The chief then intimated that a 
 present would appease his wrath and restore the insulted honor of his 
 son. " No," said the missionary, " I came here to teach you, not to 
 make you presents." He then pointed out to him the law of God, and 
 read the ten commandments, closing the interview with prayer, as de- 
 scribed in another part of the sketches. 
 
 Jealousy respecting rank is not confined to rulers and princes of en- 
 lightened and civilized nations. We have never known stronger feel- 
 ings manifested among any people upon this subject, than among the 
 naked savages of the Marshall Islands. A line marked and dis- 
 tinct is drawn between chiefs and common people. There is no crossing 
 that with impunity. We asked the Rev. Mr. Doane, what crimes were 
 punishable ? He replied, " none but insult to chiefs." The death 
 penalty is not unfrequently inflicted for this crime. Only a few days 
 before our arrival at Ebon, a young man was put to death, on the mere- 
 est suspicion, and after his death it was ascertained that he was inno- 
 cent. 
 
 While the chiefs are so very jealous upon this subject, still they 
 mingle among their people, and outwardly but slight deference is paid 
 to the chiefs. 
 
 Among the chiefs, everything, in regard to rank, depends upon who 
 was a chiefs mother. The female gives rank. Their ideas and laws 
 respecting marriage are very peculiar. A chief of the first class must 
 marry a woman of the second class, and their children will be second 
 class chiefs. A first class woman must marry a second class chief, and 
 their children will belong to the first class. These rules are rigidly 
 enforced. Polygamy exists among them. Some have as many as four 
 or five wives, although we heard of none who carried their ideas o 
 polygamy to the extent of Brigham Young and his followers. 
 5 
 
XXI. 
 
 FAREWELL GLANCE AT MARSHALL ISLANDS. 
 
 These islands are thirty in number. Fifteen forming the Ralick or 
 Western Chain, and fifteen forming the Radack or Eastern Chain. The 
 population is estimated at 10,000 ; the Ralickers numbering 6,000, and 
 the Radackers, 4,000. Each chain of islands has its own chiefs, and 
 are independent of each other, although the chiefs of the Ralick Chain 
 entertain the idea of nominal supremacy. There was a rumor, at the 
 time of our visit, that the chiefs of the Ralick Chain were about 
 to assert and endeavor to maintain their authority over their less pow- 
 erful neighbors. 
 
 The food of the natives consists of bread fruit, jack fruit, (a species 
 of bread fruit,) cocoa nuts, pandanus fruit, and fish. The manufacture 
 of cocoanut oil has been commenced at Ebon, Messrs. Stapenhorst 
 and Hoffschlaeger of Honolulu, having recently purchased land and 
 erected the necessary buildings. It was estimated that nearly one 
 hundred barrels of oil would be collected this year. As yet tobacco 
 is the principal article of barter for oil. 
 
 All the islands of both chains are coral, low and lagoon shaped. 
 There is more verdure upon these than upon the Gilbert Islands. 
 They are situated in a region of the Pacific where the trade winds 
 blow very strong and are accompanied by heavy thunder and lightning. 
 They range from 4 to 12 N. L., and 165 to 172 E. L. The 
 two chains of islands run nearly N. W. and S. E., and are parallel to 
 each other. The whole group takes its name of Marshall Islands, from 
 Capt. Marshall, of the English Navy, who visited them in the year 
 1788, commanding the Scarborough. The visits of the celebrated 
 Russian Navigator, Kotzebue, to the Radack Chain, are full of interest 
 as described in his voyages, published in London, 1821, in three vol- 
 umes. These islands, however, have never been thoroughly explored, 
 and are very incorrectly laid down upon the charts. The notices which 
 have been published respecting them in Colton's large Atlas, or any 
 other geographical works, are exceedingly meagre, incorrect, and un- 
 satisfactory. Dr. Gulick's lecture upon the Marshall Islands, is higly 
 interesting and instructive. 
 
 We now take our leave of the Marshall Islands and their inhabitants. 
 Our visit opened up to view, a new phase of Polynesian life. We 
 there saw the humble and devoted missionaries laboriously engaged in 
 the work of reducing the language to a written form, teaching school 
 and preaching to the people. After having enjoyed their hospitality 
 and Christian fellowship, we took our departure, bringing away Mrs. 
 Doane and her two little children, who left on account of her own 
 health and the sickness of the youngest child. Never shall we forget 
 that parting scene. This hymn was sung : 
 
 11 How vain is all beneath the skies ! 
 
 How transient every earthly bliss ! 
 How Blender all the fondest ties, 
 That bind us to a world like this, &c., &c. 
 
35 
 
 Then let the hope of joys to come, 
 
 Dispel our cares, and chase our fears ; 
 If God be ours, we're travelling home, 
 
 Though passing through a vale of tears." 
 
 The Rev. Mr. Doane offered a prayer in the Ebon language, and it 
 was followed by a prayer in English. We saw a number of the native 
 Christians, or " lovers of Jesus," pass around to the state-room window 
 and bid Mrs. Doane farewell, with many tears. It would have subdued 
 the stoutest soul, to have witnessed the missionary part with his wife 
 and children, and then step into his boat and steer for his lonely home ! 
 There may be a romance about the missionary life, when viewed from 
 the shores of Christian England and America, but all romance is dissi- 
 pated and it puts on a stern reality when the real experience comes. 
 As we stood upon the quarter deck of the Morning Star, conversing 
 with the Rev. Mr. Doane, and taking a last look at the shores of Ebon, 
 we said, " It is hard for you to part with your family, and go there to 
 labor alone." His only reply was. " I could not, if I did not feel that 
 Jesus was my companion." Surely it was no unmeaning language of 
 our Saviour, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the 
 world." While this scene was passing, the sailors were heaving at 
 the anchor, and the sails were loosening. We were soon off and bound 
 for Strong's Island, but with the glass, we watched that little boat, rising 
 and falling with the swell, until it was lost in the distance. When 
 that happy family will be again united, is known only to the Master, in 
 whose cause they labor. 
 
 XXII. 
 
 UALAN, STRONG'S ISLAND, OR KUSAIE. 
 
 In reading books upon Polynesia, and examining charts of the Paci- 
 fic, there is nothing more perplexing than the variety of names applied 
 to the same islands, or group. Ualan, Strong's Island or Kusaie, is a 
 good illustration of this remark. We will now explain the several 
 terms or names applied to this island. 
 
 UALAN, is the usual name found upon charts, and upon large atlases. 
 This is the name which the natives apply to the large or main island, 
 while Lila, is that of the small island. 
 
 STRONG'S ISLAND. This is the name usually applied to the island, by 
 whalers and seafaring people. It was given to the island by Capt. 
 Crozer, commanding an American ship, who was the discoverer in 
 1804. 
 
 KUSAIE. This is the name, by which the missionaries prefer to call 
 the island. It is really the most appropriate name, as the native term 
 to be applied to the two islands, viz : of Ualan and Lila. 
 
 The principal island, Ualan, is twenty-four miles in circumference, 
 and the small island, Lila, about two miles. In ancient times, the large 
 island was conquered by the inhabitants of the small island, and to the 
 present time, remains tributary. The King resides upon the small 
 island. The mission premises are also located upon it. It is separated, 
 
36 
 
 from the large, by a narrow channel of the eighth of a mile in width. 
 Both are densely wooded, with cocoanut, breadfruit, mangrove and 
 numerous other tropical trees. The forests are a perfect jungle. The 
 large island is formed of two mountains towering to the height of 
 about 2,000 feet, which may be seen a long distance at sea. The for- 
 ests are intersected by numerous small streams. The climate is very 
 humid, as we can testify ! Strong winds prevail. Frequently the 
 rains are accompanied by heavy thunder and vivid flashes of lightning. 
 There are three harbors upon the island. 
 
 xxni. 
 
 RUINS ON KUSAIE. 
 
 Very conflicting statements have been published respecting the ruins 
 on Kusaie. We almost expected to behold the ruins of 
 
 " The cloud capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces," 
 
 covered with mosses and ivy, while from other reports, we were not led 
 to expect any thing remarkable. 
 
 We found this to be the simple truth. The small island of Lila, is 
 surrounded by a wall, five or six feet high, but now very much dilapidat- 
 ed. The island is intersected and cut up by walls running in various 
 directions, enclosing areas varying from a few to many acres. Some 
 portions of these walls, are very massive, varying from five to twenty- 
 five feet in height and proportionately broad or thick. The stones com- 
 posing the walls were gathered from the island but a part were brought a long 
 distance from the main island. This is true of some very large pentago- 
 nal basaltic rocks. Some of these rocks are very large. We saw 
 specimens, which it would require half of the present inhabitants of 
 the island to move and elevate to their present position. 
 
 We copy the following sentences from Dr. Gulick's third lecture : 
 " From M. D'Urville's reports and from the accounts of sea captains 
 we had received glowjng ideas of the architectural exhibitions on Lila ; 
 we were to find a native city handsomely laid out, with paved streets, 
 and at frequent intervals handsome piles of stone-cut masonry. On the 
 contrary, we found nothing but muddy paths, zigzagging hither and 
 thither over rubbish and stones. There were many stone walls three or 
 four feet high, evidently of very recent origin ; and scattered among 
 the groves were indeed evidences of ancient labor, consisting of artiff- 
 cial islets, built up above high tide level, and almost cyclopian lines 
 and enclosures of stone walls. Banyan like trees had in many cases 
 sent their roots into the very center of these structures, and from some 
 spots the stones have been entirely removed. A line of stone, varying 
 in height in different parts, surrounds a considerable portion of the cen- 
 tral hill of Lila. Not far from the King's and his eldest son's resi- 
 dences are several enclosures about two hundred by one hundred feet, 
 with walls twenty feet high, and in some places at the foundations 
 twelve feet thick. We partially traced at least one very much larger 
 l?ut less perfect enclosure. The walls are built of basaltic stones, occa- 
 
37 
 
 sionally filled in with coral. Some of the rocks are very large irregu- 
 lar masses, while others are beautiful pentagonal prisms. There is 
 not the remotest trace upon any of them of a stone-cutter's adze. 
 Along the south western shore are a number of canals communicating 
 with the harbor and in which the sea ebbs and flows. The sides of the 
 canals are in some cases crumbled, but bear evident tokens of having 
 been artificially built; and the islets themselves are evidently in a con- 
 siderable degree artificial, composed principally >f coral stones, the 
 rubbels of the canals themselves. These canals intersected each other, 
 and so formed islets, on at least one of which is found a towering 
 stone enclosure. Mangrove trees have in many cases choked up these 
 watery courses, and with other kinds of trees on the islets have nearly 
 buried the whole in a shade most congenial with the thoughts excited 
 by these relics of a dimmer age than that which we might hope had 
 now dawned upon them. 
 
 " King George afterward informed us that these walls were built by 
 the former inhabitants. Many of the larger rocks were brought from 
 the main island on rafts. When we asked how such heavy blocks could 
 be elevated so high, he replied they were rolled up from one level to 
 another on inclined planes ot logs and stones. As to their uses, he 
 said the wall about the hill was for defense from aggressors from the 
 main island, and that many of the remaining walls were in honor of 
 the dead. Nothing could be more improbable or unsatisfactory than 
 to import a company of buccaneers, or any civilized people, to build 
 what could not be at all to their purpose, nor to the credit of their ar- 
 chitectural talents; and what it would have been morally impossible for 
 them to have done. The inhabitants of Kusaie are even now skilled 
 in wall building. We were told that one of their most decisive evi- 
 dences of public grief is to rebuild the wall about the premises of a 
 bereaved chief; and to this day the chiefs arc buried in one of the an- 
 cient enclosures, as though they were the mausoleums of the great. 
 Possibly they may in the first instance have been built about royal resi- 
 dences, and on the decease of the builders have become their magnifi- 
 cent sepulchres, though the analogy of present Micronesian customs de- 
 cides against it." 
 
 XXIV. 
 
 WEATHER BOUND ON KUSAIE. 
 
 It is related of a voyager in the South Pacific, that he once visited 
 an island inhabited by savages, where a white man was not safe. Du- 
 ring a subsequent voyage the ship in which he sailed, was wrecked upon 
 the same island. He confidently expected that an untimely end would 
 be his certain fate. Soon however he was met by a friendly native, who 
 kindly pointed the wrecked man to the house of the ' Mikinari." 
 Hope now succeeded to fear in the sailor's mind. He exclaimed, 
 " All's well, there is a missionary here." 
 
 We have never been wrecked, but we have been weather-bound, and 
 unable to join our vessel. We landed on Kusaie, early Sabbath morning, 
 
38 
 
 and were unable to communicate with the Morning Star, until the fol- 
 lowing Friday. Not only did we enjoy the feeling of security among 
 Kusaiens, but we also enjoyed the kind entertainment of a most hospi- 
 table family. We shall not very soon forget the kindness and generous 
 treatment we experieuced from Mr. and Mrs. Snow, the only white per- 
 sons residing upon the island. During the period of our detention, we 
 enjoyed an excellent opportunity for picking up numerous items of 
 historical and local interest, visiting the dwellings of the inhabitants, 
 observing their habits and customs, besides examining the progress of 
 the people in their appreciation of the missionary's efforts to raise 
 them in the scale of civilization, and impart to them the invaluable 
 blessings of Christianity. The Sabbath being our first day spent among 
 the Kusaiens, naturally leads us to refer, in the first place, to Kusaie as 
 a mission field. 
 
 XXV. 
 
 MISSION ON KUSAIE. 
 
 This mission was established in the autumn of 1852, by the Kev. B. 
 G. Snow and wife. They were left there by the schooner Caroline, 
 commanded by Capt. Holdsworth, during the successful trip of that 
 vessel to Micronesia, on a missionary enterprise. The missionaries 
 were welcomed by King George, who not only allowed them a residence, 
 but gave them a most cordial welcome, and who proved to the day of 
 his death, (September 9th, 1854,) a firm and steadfast friend of 
 the missionary. Before his death he offered the most gratifying evi- 
 dence that his soul had embraced the glorious doctrines of Christianity, 
 as unfolded and explained by Mr. Snow. The King's death threw a 
 dark shadow over the prospects of the mission, for his successor was 
 a man possessed of the very opposite traits of character, who died in 
 about two years, as he lived, the debased slave of lust and drunkenness. 
 He was succeeded by the present chief ruler, whose conduct and policy 
 towards the mission, is by no means one of opposition, but rather that 
 of indifference. He uniformly treats the missionary with kindness, 
 and is a friendly neighbor, comes to meeting upon the Sabbath morn- 
 ing, and like too many in Christian lands, during the week is a faithful 
 servant of this world. 
 
 The King was almost the first Kusaien to whom we were introduced, 
 for we found him at church before the audience, had assembled. Soon 
 after we entered, an audience gathered of about one hundred. The 
 men were seated cross-legged upon mats, in the rear. The King 
 and three high chiefs upon benches, and the females and children in 
 front of the missionary, while the missionary's family and strangers 
 were disposed of on the left of the desk. 
 
 A manuscript collection of hymns, was handed us, and others re- 
 ceived the same, for a Kusaien had never as yet looked upon a printed 
 page of his language, although this gratification was soon afforded him, 
 as the Morning Star brought 300 copies of a small primer and hymn 
 book printed in the Kusaien language. Mr. Snow gave out the hymns, 
 
and conducted the services, after the usual method in our congrega- 
 tions, excepting that he called upon the strangers for some remarks, 
 which he interpreted. The audience was respectful and attentive. 
 The utmost decorum prevailed during the exercises. The closing 
 hymn, was the translation of that familiar English Hymn, 
 
 '* The Saviour calls let every one 
 
 Attend the heavenly sound ; 
 Ye doubting souls ! dismiss your fear, 
 Hope smiles reviving round." 
 
 We very much doubt whether Mrs. Steele, the author of this hymn, 
 the friend of Addison, imagined it would ever be translated into the 
 language of a savage tribe upon an island of the Pacific, not to be dis- 
 covered until after she had been dead for a hundred years. 
 
 After the morning exercises were closed, the Sabbath School con- 
 vened, when about twenty-five remained. Through Mr. Snow as in- 
 terpreter, the strangers present endeavored to interest the pupils. 
 
 At the afternoon service, gathered, what Mr. Snow denominates " his 
 Christian congregation." Among them appeared Kedukka and family, 
 who have for some years professed a strong attachment to the gospel. 
 Several others are affording the gratifying evidence of having been 
 born again, and stand as candidates for church membership, while 
 others show an inquiring state of mind. Kedukka, mentioned above, 
 evinces a strong determination to make his light shine. He has com- 
 menced itinerating through the villages upon the island, and appears 
 to make known among his benighted fellow islanders, the truths of the 
 gospel. 
 
 Oh the following Wednesday afternoon, a most interesting prayer- 
 meeting was held at the house of the missionaries, when native Chris- 
 tians and strangers from abroad, " felt it good to be there." There 
 was distributed for the first time, copies of printed hymns. 
 
 While the labors of Mr. and Mrs. Snow were peculiarly designed for 
 the natives of Kusaie, we feel that they have also accomplished a most 
 important work in behalf of seamen. Oftentimes during their residence 
 there, the harbors of the island have been visited by numerous whale 
 ships, sometimes fifteen or twenty at a time ; but we shall refer to this 
 topic under another heading. 
 
 In addition to Mr. Snow's labors at the station, he is accustomed to 
 make tours about the island preaching from village to village. These 
 are very laborious. The whole south side of the large island seems much 
 inclined to receive missionary labors, while the northern part is op- 
 posed, and holds on to its former superstitions. The work however has 
 begun and will spread, and unquestionably should the mission be pros- 
 e9uted, the entire population will be soon brought under Christian influ- 
 ences. 
 
 As we shall show in another paper, the inhabitants of Kusaie are 
 rap idly diminishing in numbers. This fact in connection with the ur- 
 gent call for missionary labor at the Marshall Islands, has led to the 
 prospective removal of Mr. and Mrs. Snow to Ebon, when the Morn- 
 ing Star shall make another trip to Micronesia, His removal has been 
 
41 
 
 decided upon by his associates of the mission, and approved of by the 
 Prudential Committee of the American Board of Foreign Missions 
 at Boston. It is now contemplated to supply his place by an Hawaiian 
 issionary. as soon as necessary arrangements can be made. 
 
 XXVI. 
 
 GOVERNMENT AND CUSTOMS OF KUSAIENS. 
 
 We have learned some interesting facts about this people. They 
 have the most exact system of clannish tribal relationships that could 
 well be conceived of. The name for tribe is Seuf. 
 
 There 'die four tribes, no more nor less from time immemorial. The 
 names of the tribes and their order, are as follows : 
 
 Peinuii, Ton, Lisuge, and Neus. 
 
 Peinuii, means true or correct. 
 
 Ton, is the name of a sacred eel. 
 
 Lisuge, a partition. 
 
 Neus, is the name for foot. 
 
 The Kusaiens marry in the most indiscriminate manner possible. 
 From time immemorial the children follow the mother. The Jews 
 were never more exact in their lineage than this people are in preserv- 
 ing their line of descent. 
 
 PRINCIPAL CHIEF. This office is not hereditary. Though not quite 
 elective among the near relatives of the deceased sachem of the same 
 tribe, yet in the prospective demise of the Togusa or King, there is a 
 good deal of what American politicians would call log-rolling, for the 
 King-ship, and after all is done, the chief of another tribe may succeed 
 to the throne, if the popular feeling among the people sets strongly in 
 that direction. 
 
 A son of a former Togusa or King, may succeed to his father ; so 
 also the son of a brother, or a sister, of the Togusa, although there is 
 no law in regard to such a course. 
 
 So far as Mr. Snow has been able to learn from observation or in- 
 quiry, the duties of the Togusa are not confined to affairs of peace. 
 In a war which the natives had with some foreigners in '57, who en- 
 deavored to get possession of the island, the Togusa, was commandeF- 
 in-chief of the tribes. Nothing could be done without his permission 
 or direction. When peace was made by the arrival of the Morning 
 Star, the Togusa was the sole executive in the crisis, though there 
 was previously held a convention for consultation among all the chiefs. 
 
 We learned from Mr. Snow the following interesting facts respecting 
 the bonds of relationship. If a man has a dozen brothers, his children 
 have as many fathers, besides their natural father, and all the children 
 of those mothers are brothers and sisters. All the fathers, sisters or 
 mothers to his children, and the sister's children, are brothers and sis- 
 ters to her brother's children. The same law holds good on the moth- 
 er's side. 
 
 The names of individuals are not changed from the cradle to the 
 grave, unless the person is exalted to become a chief. Then the com- 
 
41 
 
 mon name is dropped and he or she goes by the official name. Every 
 male chiefish title, has a corresponding female chiefish title, viz : 
 
 Togusa male title, Kosa female title. Should the chief have several 
 wives, but one can bear the official title. When the husband dies, the 
 female title is gradually dropped. If another immediately succeeds to 
 the chieftain-ship, the title is dropped at once, and all the honors, titles, 
 lands, servants &c., succeed to the chief elect. 
 
 Mr. Snow relates the folio-wing facts in regard to the absolute sub- 
 serviency of the people to their chiefs or their king, e. g.: the male 
 child of the daughter of old King George this daughter being the wife 
 of the second chief in authority receives from her mother the same defe- 
 rential regard that he would if he were a chief already titled. In ad- 
 dressing the child, though but an infant, the prefix Se, equivalent to 
 our Sir or Honorable, is invariably employed. This brother must never 
 touch the child's head, although he may handle other parts of the 
 child's body, oil or wash it, but no greater offense could be given to 
 the parents of the child than for him to touch any part of the body above 
 the shoulders. Now if this daughter ot the old kinj had an older sister, 
 then this one of whom we have been speaking, would be obliged to ex- 
 hibil the same tokens of respect to the older sister's child or children. 
 All these ceremonies going or tending to keep the idea of the superior- 
 ity of the mother, that the honors and royalty are lodged in her heredi- 
 tarily. 
 
 Mr. Snow furnished me with the following interesting facts in regard 
 to their tribal laws, relating to help in sickness. If one is sick or in 
 distress, or needs help in any other way, then it is the duty of the 
 tribe to which he belongs to render that help. They, as speedily as 
 possible, gather about those in distress, and remain with them until 
 relieved, or removed by death. If removed by death, they continue 
 their attentions, supplying all the necessaries for four days of feasting 
 after death. This is a law of the tribes, and it altereth not. 
 
 Mr. S. stated the following custom among them, in regard to the 
 treatment of a chief's child, until it can crawl. It must never lie upon 
 the floor, but be held, night and day, month after month in the arms of 
 nurses and servants. The person holding the child, must allow its 
 neck to rest upon the arm, that when the child is at rest, the head falls 
 back. 
 
 XXVII. 
 
 DECREASE OF POPULATION ON KUSAIE. 
 
 January 5, 1858, the Kev. Mr. Snow thus wrote to the editors of the 
 Missiojiary Herald, as appears from the April No. of the Herald, for 
 1859. "I have just finished taking the census of the island again, and 
 find that there are now about 830 inhabitants 518 mates and 312 
 females, including children ; making the proportion of mates to females 
 about 5 to 3. When 1 took the census about two and a half years ago, 
 the population was a few over 1100. This shows that our people are 
 diminishing at a rapid rate, but the war has had some hand in the di- 
 6 
 
minution the past year. I have found more infants upon the island 
 than at any other time when I have taken the census. * * * When 
 the books are opened there will be a scene presented from these islands 
 of the Pacific where ships have been accustomed to touch, at which so 
 called civilization will hang her head, and call upon the mountains and 
 rocks to fall upon her, and if possible hide her shame from the gaze of 
 the assembled universe. For at the bar of God, these men from Chris- 
 tian lands will find there is such a thing as shame and remorse." 
 
 At our visit, Mr. Snow allowed us to copy the following memoranda 
 from his Journal: " Dec. 29, 1860. Finished taking the census to- 
 day. I make 743 in all 523 in CJalan and 225 in Lila. The males 
 ef the adults and older children 411, while the females of the same 
 were 258. But of the younger children and infants the males were 
 37 and females 42, thus making the proportion of the older of the 
 women to the men 0.63, while with the children, it is 1.13. This certain- 
 inly is a hopeful phase for the restoration of the race, and I desire to 
 thank God that it is so." 
 
 XXVIII. 
 
 MISSIONARY OFFICIATING AS SEAMEN'S CHAPLAIN. 
 
 The Rev. ,G. B. Snow, at Strong's Island or Kusaie, has been ac- 
 customed to officiate as Chaplain, when seamen were in port. In 
 former years many English and American whale ships have visited 
 that island for supplies. The bark Superior, Capt. R. D. Woods, vis- 
 ited Strong's Island in 1860, and sailed from thence to the Solomon's 
 Islands, where the master and nearly all the crew were cruelly massa- 
 cred by the natives. An account of their massacre has been exten- 
 sively published in the island and American newspapers. The disas- 
 ter took place in Sept. 1860. Capt. Hugh Mair, master of the Eng- 
 lish schooner, Ariel, thus writes from Rubiana, Solomon Islands, Nov. 
 30, 1860 : 
 
 " On Sunday, the 16th, nine, of the crew went ashore. The carpen- 
 ter and two men went to the settlement and were murdered in one of 
 the native huts. The natives then proceeded, in canoes and overland, 
 to the ship; and those who came by land fell in with the remaining six, 
 close to the beach, and murdered them. About 150 natives got on 
 board the vessel, and made a rush on the crew, who were all on deck 
 except four who were in bed. Those on deck were immediately toma- 
 hawked, only two escaping by jumping down the main hatchway, and 
 joining the four below in the forecastle. One of the crew, whom I re- 
 covered, saw the captain and second mate murdered by a native called 
 'Billy,' who has been to Sydney, and speaks English well. The 
 chief Copan was the principal in this dreadful massacre. The six 
 men below, being armed with lances, kept the natives from coming 
 down the forecastle, until at last ' Billy ' told my informant that if 
 they came up they should not be hurt. At length, therefore, they did 
 so, and were at onc'e surrounded by the chief Copan's orders to be put 
 to death. The chief America offered to buy three of .the men, and he 
 
43 
 
 persuaded Copan to keep the other three to till the ground. These 
 three, as I have already intimated, I could not recover." 
 
 While the Superior lay at Strong's Island, the Master, Capt. Wood, 
 and his crew were accustomed to attend the native service upon the 
 Sabbath. The news of the massacre was taken to the island by the 
 Morning Star. The Rev. Mr. Snow and wife were deeply affected 
 by the sad intelligence. Mr. Snow then exhibited the following ex- 
 tract from a letter which he had addressed the owners of the Superior in 
 New Bedford. This letter was written and forwarded long before the 
 news of the massacre was known. It was the postscript to a letter 
 upon business, relating to a wreck, which had occurred at the island. 
 
 " P. S. Gentleman, allow me to detain you for a moment by express- 
 ing my interest in and high regard for this R. D. Wood. He has made 
 our little island quite a port of entry since we have been located 
 here, and from the first we have always hailed his coming with 
 much pleasure. Among the almost entire licentious delinquencies of 
 those who visit us, it affords me the truest pleasure to bear honorable 
 testimony in favor of the uniformly pure and upright conduct of 
 this Capt. Wood. Besides this, he has endeared himself to us by many 
 an act of generous kindness in supplying some ot our wants, and es- 
 pecially in bringing us some of our mails. Though not the most 
 talkative of men, yet his occasional visits to our family in our isolated, 
 but pleasant and happy home, have always been most welcome and 
 afforded us much enjoyment. It may afford his good lady, some of his 
 cousins and that favorite niece, some pleasure to hear thus of him, 
 though it be from a stranger. Though we have seen less of Capt. 
 Morrison of the Daniel Wood, yet it affords me sincere pleasure to bear 
 equally high and honorable testimony concerning him. He has done 
 us great kindness not only in oui mail department, but also in bringing 
 supplies from Honolulu." 
 
 On the last Sabbath the Superior lay at Strong's Island, the Rev. 
 Mr. Snow preached the following discourse to the ship's company. 
 Considering the untimely fate of so many interesting young men, far 
 away from home and country, it may be interesting to their friends to 
 learn that they should have conducted with so much propriety, during 
 their last visit at a port where they could listen to the preaching of the 
 gospel. This discourse was prepared without the most distant thought 
 ihat it would ever be solicited for publication : 
 
 " And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples |o get into a ship, and to go be- 
 fore him unto the other side. MATHEW xiv:22. 
 
 There cluster about our text some of the most instructive incidents 
 and transactions in the life of the Divine Redeemer. He had been 
 spending a short season in his own city, Nazareth, trying to impart 
 heavenly wisdom unto the friends of his earlier days. But it was soon 
 seen that a prophet had no honor in his own country, nor even in his 
 own house. Like >many other foolish people, they loved things better 
 that were " far fetched and dear bought." They were not to be in- 
 structed by the "Carpenter's son," not they. So "He did not many 
 mighty works there because of their unbelief." * * * 
 
44 
 
 But let us turn our attention now to his disciples and that 
 night upon the sea. While the Master was praying upon the 
 mountains, the disciples were sailing on the waters. The disciples 
 doubtless had a place in that prayer, and the chosen twelve thought 
 and talked of their absent Lord. Four of those sailors at least, 
 Simon Peter and Andrew his brother with the two sons of Zebe- 
 dee were no strangers upon that lake. Many a long night had they 
 sat in their boats alternately watching their nets and the Stars. 
 They iiad thought of the sweet influences of the Pleiades, and the 
 bands of Orion, they knew the hand that guided Arcturus and his 
 sons. But now they had left their fishing tackle and their fathers and 
 had been called to be fishers of men. The words and wonders of the 
 preceeding day with the strangely abundant supper for that great 
 multitude might have justly awakened their pride and feelings of ad- 
 miration for their new master. But they are hardly out upon the sea 
 ere they are beset with difficulties. A contrary wind and a boisterous 
 sea kept them toiling in rowing for the livelong night ; and they had 
 hardly made half their passage, when the dawning day brought to their 
 astonished vision what they had supposed to have been a spirit, and 
 they cried out for fear. The apparition came up and made as though it 
 would have passed. But Jesus seeing and hearing their fears imme- 
 diately talked with them, and said in his well known voice, " Be of good 
 cheer, it is I, be not afraid." His word to their spirits was like " Peace 
 be still" to the troubled waters. As soon as he is recognized 
 the impulsive Peter must try a walk upon the waters. " And 
 Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto 
 thee on the water." And he said, Come ! I suspect the "if it be thou," 
 in his prayer shows that the thoughts of the ghost had not all been 
 displaced for complete faith in his Master. For when he saw the wind 
 boisterous he was afraid, and beginning to sink he cried for help. Im- 
 mediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and caught him. Then the 
 rebuke, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt?" The 
 wet Peter and the welcome Jesus were soon in the ship, when the wind 
 ceased. They soon had prayers, and it was a pleasant morning wor- 
 ship. For it is written, " Then they that were in the ship came and wor- 
 shiped him, saying of a truth, thou art the Son of God." They were 
 sore amazed in themselves, beyond measure, because they had forgotten 
 the five loaves and the 5000. But ere they had finished their aston- 
 ishment their passage is made, and they are all safely on shore with 
 the opening duties of a new day before them. I hardly need pursue 
 the narrative farther, though the following day is filled with incidents 
 of peculiar and striking interest. We shall do better to pause here and 
 gather a few practical lessons from what we have already witnessed. 
 My audience will not object to our gathering some lessons from this 
 night on the sea. 
 
 I. Those who enter the service of Christ need not abandon the sea. 
 
 I should almost feel like begging pardon of my seafaring friends for 
 making such a remark, had not the assertion been so often made to me 
 by those first in authority, that it is no use to try to be religious till we 
 
45 
 
 are done with whaling 1 , and have quit the sea. I am aware that such 
 remarks may be made to parry off the truth and to quiet an uneasy 
 conscience, rather than as an honest expression of an intelligent man. 
 And yet, my hearers, will bear me witness that giving utterance to 
 such a sentiment whenever the claims of God and the duties of reli- 
 gion are urged upon the conscience, would soon make a sentiment, 
 however false, an absolute fact in its practical influence upon the lives 
 of men. But God allows no such let off. His claims upon the love 
 and service of his intelligent creatures are not limited to the land ; they 
 extend from sea to sea, and from the river to the ends of the earth. 
 And my heart rises in thankfulness to God that this is not mere theory. 
 The witnesses upon the sea, though not so many as we could desire, 
 have yet been very numerous, and sometimes of very marked and dis- 
 tinguishing clearness, from that old voyager in the ark to the present time. 
 Thanks be to God that he has always had a seed to serve him on the 
 sea. And perhaps at no period in the past has the number of these 
 been more rapidly multiplying than within a year or two of the present 
 time. The means too are constantly multiplying to effect this same 
 end. The intelligent sympathies also of the Christian world, are be- 
 ing more and more wisely awakened and turned to the great and glo- 
 rious result of gathering the fullness of the sea into the Kingdom of 
 God. My friends of the Superior can you not trace growing emotions 
 in your own hearts which will bear favorable testimony to the truth of 
 these remarks ? If so, yield your hearts to those emotions and you 
 will soon find in your own happy experience that those who enter the 
 service of christ need not abandon the sea. 
 
 II. Another lesson from that night upon the sea is that it is always 
 safe to obey Christ. 
 
 It is true that <they had not the bodily presence of their Divine Mas- 
 ter on board, as at another time when crossing the lake of Genesaret, 
 he was asleep in the hinder part of the ship, but they had what was just as 
 good for their safety, his command, " Get into the ship and go unto the 
 other side." There was nothing in the articles about Peter leaving the 
 ship and trying to foot it. And he seemed to have gained only a wet- 
 ting for his folly and a reprimand for his rashness. Had John tried it, I 
 suspect he could have gone much more safely than did Peter. But he 
 had the wisdom to serve his Master where his Master put him. Peter 
 would have done much better to have kept his seat at the oar. De- 
 serters, even when it is done under the cloak of piety, are only losers 
 in the end. How many have read about Peter's folly since that night ! 
 and how much talk there has been about it! We are apt to re- 
 member and talk of the foolish things that men do, much longer 
 than we do their wise things. The disciples had a head wind and 
 a rough sea, so that they were all night in making a passage which 
 might have been made in two hours. So that being a servant of 
 Christ, don't exempt from trials even at sea. But how often contrary 
 winds occasion hard thoughts of God, and hard words, too, some- 
 times ! Had the disciples made a quick passage, they and the world 
 had probably never known that illustration of Divine power in the 
 Saviour, his walking upon the water. Be sure that you have an ear 
 
46 
 
 and a heart intent upon hearing and obeying the commands of Christ, 
 and you need have no fears concerning the winds or the waves. Every 
 event will have its lessons of wisdom to teach, and each trial of faith 
 and patience will bring good to the heart, though there may be less 
 gold in the pocket. Safety and welfare of the ship is much more 
 thought of and planned for than the safety and welfare of the soul. 
 Good for the voyage, is oftener the question than " will it be good for 
 heaven !" While if a thing is good for heaven, it certainly can't be 
 bad for a voyage. There are no tests of friendship where there are 
 no trials. 
 
 The being wind bound is one thing, the being will bound is quite 
 another. The one may keep from going to sea for awhile, the other 
 may keep from going to heaven forever. For the words of Christ are 
 " Ye will not come unto me, that ye might have life." There was an old 
 Governor of Israel, Joshua by name, who said " as for me and my 
 house, we ivill serve the Lord." I knew another of less note, but equally 
 wise in that thing, and he was a sailor. When urged to the surrender 
 of his will to God, exclaimed, " I will serve God or nobody." By so 
 doing they are both safe for heaven. You who hear me now, " Go and 
 do likewise" and you will be equally safe for the same place. 
 
 III. A third point of instruction is, that sailors should never forget 
 the Saviour. 
 
 No class of people in all the world were so honored as sailors in the 
 choice which Christ made of his disciples. One-third of the whole 
 number were chosen from that class alone. Then to carry the honor 
 still further, he chose his'three favorite disciples out of those four. 
 Has this distinction been well repaid in the gratitude and love of sea- 
 men ? Your better acquaintance with seamen than mine, better quali- 
 fies you to answer the question. Let me put the question more prac- 
 tically : Do you, yourselves acknowledge your indebtedness to Christ on 
 this account ? Perhaps it has not been sufficiently thought of to be 
 intelligently answered. It certainly calls loudly for your consideration. 
 " For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required." 
 Be assured my friends, Christ has strong claims upon seamen. And I 
 ask you as men belonging to that class, have not those claims been 
 sufficiently long protested ? Is it not time that you yourselves acknowl- 
 edged those claims and were paying your dues ? From our stand point 
 it would seem that the Saviour was not wise in having so many seamen 
 with him as his intimate friends and counsellors. For though they 
 come from almost every land, it is a pity that more don't find their way 
 back again; but the pity is still greater, that of those who do return, 
 so few have been improved during their absence. So fearful is the 
 state of things in this regard, that I have seldom found an observing 
 or sensible seaman who would choose a sailor's life for his own boy. 
 And in all my intercourse with the world, I have never found a class of 
 men, as a class, among whom there are so few Christians. But not- 
 withstanding these drawbacks, I am far from attributing want of wis- 
 dom and the broadest forecast to the course pursued by our blessed Saviour. 
 The very fact that sailors come from all lands and go to all lands is a 
 matter of great interest in, this connection.. Get the genuine leaven 
 
47 
 
 of Christianity into this mass, and there is a mighty working power. It 
 is felt at home and abroad, on sea and on shore. The lowest and most 
 despised has his circle of interests and of influences. Sanctify it and he 
 becomes powerful. How much more so would it be \vhen those inter- 
 ests and influences were backed up by intelligence and by official stand- 
 ing. These wide and powerful influences are not always to be lost to 
 the church. The sailor will ere long acknowledge the claims of the Sa- 
 viour, he will hear and heed the call, " Follow me and I will make you 
 fishers of men." And the sacrifice will not be so great to them as to 
 many of us landsmen, to respond to that dying command of the great 
 Redeemer, " Go ye into all the world and preach the Gospel to every 
 creature." For he goes there already without the commission. How 
 much more will he go there when his heart becomes fired with the love 
 of christ, and he sees in the Jesus of Nazareth the dearest of friends 
 and the Saviour of his own immortal soul. His heart will become an 
 altar of incense, and his life, a perpetual thank-offering. 
 
 IV. If you want to* make a safe passage and reach a good port at 
 last, take Christ with you. 
 
 I hardly need say more under this head than to assure you that with- 
 out taking Christ, there is no possibility of such a result. " For there is 
 none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be 
 saved." That name is Jesus Christ, 
 
 *' Dearest of all names above, 
 
 My Jesus and my God ! 
 Who can resist thy heavenly love, 
 
 Or trifle with thy blood?" 
 
 You are aware that it is a law of nations that no ship shall enter 
 port with contraband freight on board. Before she can enter, that 
 freight must be moved, or there is a liability to capture and condemna- 
 tion. All sin is contraband at the port of heaven, and there is no 
 possibility of escaping detection. ! If you were sure of a chance to stop 
 somewhere and make a change, it might be safe though not very wise 
 to continue your present course. But there is no such insurance com- 
 pany established. A great many have tried it and failed. There is no 
 .capital to start with, so all their policies have been found useless. It is 
 well to know this at the outset. 
 
 But God has sent an agent, and established a house to attend to all 
 such business. That agent is the one I am now recommending to your 
 consideration. He will take all your contraband articles off your hands 
 and give you the best marketable freight. And what is very singular, 
 he charges nothing for his commission. 
 
 'There is one very simple and very ressonable condition in the policy, 
 which must be affectionately subscribed to before he will sign the pa- 
 pers that will insure your safe entrance into the port of heaven. I 
 hardly need tell you that that condition is perfect loyalty to the Great 
 Sovereign. Give an assurance of this and you will get free papers, a 
 suufe passport, wonderful to say, signed with the blood of the agent. 
 Having this, your voyage may be shorter or longer, perilous .or other- 
 wise, nothing will ever really harm you; blow high or blow low, storm 
 
48 
 
 or sunshine, head winds or fair winds or no winds at all, it will be all 
 the same at last, provided you preserve with the strictest fidelity your 
 loyalty. In the book of principles which the great Sovereign has given 
 to* teach us how to be loyal, there is something very encouraging given 
 to show that those who. are beset with great trials and peculiar difficul- 
 ties are treated with marked consideration by the Great Sovereign 
 himself. Let me read it to you from the Book. Rev. vii:13 17. 
 
 Then haste, O Sailor ! to be wise, 
 
 Stay not for the morrow's sun ; 
 Wisdom warns thee from the skies, 
 
 All the paths of death to shun. 
 
 Haste and mercy, now implore : 
 
 Stay not for the morrow's sun, 
 Thy probation may be o'er, 
 
 Ere this evening's vrork isjione. 
 
 Haste, O Sailor ! now return ; 
 
 Stay not for the morrow's sun, 
 Lest thy lamp should cease to burn 
 Ere salvation's work is done. 
 
 Haste while yet thou cans't be blest 
 
 Stay not for the morrow's sun ; 
 Death may thy poor soul arrest, 
 
 Ere the morrow is begun. 
 
 XXIX. 
 
 ONE MAN CANNOT KNOW EVERYTHING, YET MAY KNOW 
 SOME THINGS. 
 
 On the eve of our departure from Honolulu there was passed into, 
 our hands a short note, which we hastily deposited in our vest pocket, 
 End did not discover it until our cruise was partly finished. It read after 
 this manner : 
 
 " Mr. Damon will greatly oblige Dr. Hillebrand, if he will procure 
 and press the leaves and grasses of the various localities, which he is 
 about to visit in Micronesia." 
 
 Whether we have in the least obliged our friend by the specimens of 
 plants and seeds, which we have gathered, is quite uncertain, for we 
 must confess our ignorance of botany, scientifically speaking, although 
 our eye can discern beauties in the "lilies of the field." We take a 
 sincere pleasure in observing works of nature, although we do not pro- 
 fess, with the votaries of the natural sciences, " to feast on raptures 
 ever new," as they examine plants, shells, rocks, corals, fish, bugs, birds, 
 animals, and the endless variety of genera and species which the God 
 of nature has scattered so profusely over the islands, islets, reefs and 
 rocks, throughout the teeming waters of Micronesia. 
 
 If we- ever coveted the mental powers of an Humboldt, Agassiz, 
 
49 
 
 Cuvier, Buffon, Lyell, Hitchcock, Dana, Pease and Hillebrand, it was 
 when rambling over the coral reefs of Apaiang and Tarawa, or through 
 the forests of Ebon and Kusaie, or canoe-sailing over the shoals and la- 
 goons of Ponapi, or listening to the chattering bats of Kusaie, or 
 the parrots of Ponapi. We saw fish, insects, grubs, slug,s, and polypi 
 with numberless tentacula, sufficient to have riveted the attention and 
 enraptured the soul of a naturalist for weeks and years. The air, land 
 and water teem with living creatures ; then, too, upon those coral reefs, 
 our mental vision was sufficiently acute to discern some of their mys- 
 terious wonders. How many millions of those busy reel-builders, we 
 must have crushed at every step, for the researches of an Ehrenberg 
 have established the fact that ** nine millions of some of these animal- 
 cula may live in a space not larger than a mustard seed." (See Hitch- 
 rock's " Keligious Truth illustrated from Science.") But natural science 
 is not our province, we can assert however without fear of overstating 
 the truth, that there are fields of natural history to be explored in Mi- 
 cronesia, which will amply reward the labors of the devotees of science 
 for many years to come. Mr. Garrett spent w T eeks upon the reefs of 
 Apaiang, and then left them as he asserted, but half explored, and 
 doubtless ere this, Prof. Agassiz has exhibited Mr. Garrett's collections 
 to the admiring classes of Cambridge University. 
 
 While visiting Tarawa, we endeavored most faithfully to procure a 
 human skull, to enrich the collection of our phrenological and ethnolo- 
 gical friend, Mr. Green, the Acting British Consul at Honolulu. We vis- 
 ited a very Golgotha, where the skulls lay upon the ground thick as leaves 
 in the vale of Vallambrosa, but the King would not allow us to take 
 one away. The Kingsmill Islanders highly prize the skulls of their 
 deceased relatives. After death, they clean and oil them, and then 
 carefully deposit them in their houses. 
 
 In our visits to the different islands and seeing the field of scientific 
 research spread out before us, we felt how vastly important to be able 
 to investigate the vegetable, animal and mineral kingdoms. A travel- 
 er, by sea or land, who would go forth fully prepared to improve every 
 advantage and explore every object of interest, should be qualified, 
 with the ability of the great Leibnitz, " to drive all the sciences 
 ;ibreast." Who but Humboldt could do this? 
 
 Although we were not able to devote much time to the collection of 
 specimens of natural history during our brief sojourn at the various 
 mission stations where we touched, yet we found our time more than 
 occupied, day and night, in making inquiries respecting the genus ho- 
 mo, his habits, customs, practices, languages, institutions, and govern-, 
 meats, believing with Pope, that the 
 
 Proper study of mankind is man." 
 
 Man, as exhibited, and as he appeared at the four localities, at which 
 we touched, presents a great diversity of physiological, psychological 
 and theological points of interest. 
 
 This point was a special subject of inquiry with us. Do the heath- 
 en, or men living without the light of revealed religion, possess a know- 
 ledge of what is morally right and wrong? From our inquiries 
 7 
 
50 
 
 among the debased and torpid Kingsmill Islanders, the sharp and keen 
 Ebonites, the calm and obsequious Kusaiens, and the shrewd and feast- 
 oving Ponapians, we answer most unhesitatingly, man without a Divine 
 Revelation is a morally accountable being, agreeable to the language of 
 the Apostle Paul, in the second chapter of his Epistle to the Romans, 
 wherein he says, " For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do 
 by nature the things contained in the law, these having not the law, are 
 i law unto themselves, which shoiv the work of the law written in their 
 hearts, their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the 
 meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another." But it may be 
 isked wherein does the conscience of the heathen bear witness to what is 
 right and wrong ? We answer, they know and feel that it is wrong to 
 steal, to lie, to kill, to commit adultery. The heathen punish for such 
 crimes, and oftentimes that punishment is most summary. The death- 
 penalty quickly follows the perpetration of the crime. The Marshall 
 Islanders, and the Kusaiens, even now live in dread of being called to 
 account for the ships they have cut off and seamen they have murdered. 
 Their consciences are by no means at rest. It is no easy matter to ob- 
 tain information upon those subjects. We were informed upon the most 
 reliable authority that the chiefs of those islands would probably pun- 
 ish with death those of their subjects, whom they discovered revealing 
 facts relating to those massacres. At one time the Marshall Islanders, 
 when a terrible storm was raging, thought they saw a fleet of men-of- 
 war in the distant horizon, coining down upon their islands, to call them 
 to account. Did not their consciences bear witness? This is a most 
 interesting subject in its bearing upon the question of human responsi- 
 bility, and we are inclined to protract our remarks to an undue length. 
 
 XXX. 
 
 KfSAIEN LANGUAGE. 
 
 The language of the inhabitants of Kusaie, exhibits some very sin- 
 gular linguistical features. Before the missionaries landed upon the 
 island, the natives had acquired a smattering of the English language. 
 This was merely the result of their intercourse with foreigners, prin- 
 cipally with seamen. They were able to employ intelligently a greater 
 number of English words than those Hawaiians who have lived for 
 years in foreign families in Honolulu. So great was their knowledge 
 of English, that Mr. Snow endeavored for nearly four years after com- 
 mencing his mission to preach in broken English, or'Anglo-Kusaien. 
 He endeavored to teach the English in school, but he finally aband- 
 oned the experiment, and fell back upon the vernacular of the' natives. 
 He found it to be exceedingly difficult to communicate religious 
 truths in this mixture of Kusaien, English, Spanish, Hawaiian and 
 other languages. This same difficulty, we apprehend, would be still 
 more manifest if the scheme should be generally undertaken of substitut- 
 ing the English language for Hawaiian, Tahitian or Samoan. We know 
 that there are some innovators, who are very sanguine upon the point 
 that you can substitute English for Hawaiian, in all of our schools 
 
51 
 
 We do not believe it practicable even now, and much less when the 
 missionaries first commenced their labors upon the Sandwich Islands. 
 To substitute our language for another, among a rude and uncivilized 
 people, is no easy undertaking. It would approach an impossibility to 
 do it suddenly, or during a single generation. We are not aware as the 
 history of the world presents any such example. There are parts of 
 France, where we are informed that the old Celtic is spoken even now, 
 while Gaelic is one of the written and spoken languages of the 
 British Islands. 
 
 The difficulty attending the substitution of a foreign language forthe ver- 
 nacular of a people, is admirably illustrated in the attempt of William th- 
 Conqueror and his successors, to supplant the good old A nglo-Saxon by the 
 French. The Norman conquest of England was accomplished in the 
 eleventh century. William the Conqueror landed in England, A. D. 
 1066. During the three following centuries, no efforts were spared n 
 banish the vernacular of the conquered people, but without success. 
 The French, it is true, became the Court language, but the farmers, 
 mechanics and common people, retained their mother-tongue. A simi- 
 lar result, we are confident, will attend a similar effort upon any of the 
 islands of Polynesia. The French, at Tahiti, may teach a few of the 
 islanders to speak a la Fran^aise, and some few of the better educated 
 Hawaiians may learn to speak English, but the majority, we are confi- 
 dent, will always speak "their own tongue, wherein they were born.'' 
 We would not assert that an Hawaiian cannot acquire a correct knowl- 
 edge of the English language, for there are many who have sur- 
 mounted every obstacle, and can now correctly speak and write the 
 English language. There are but few if any English and American 
 residents upon the islands, who can speak and write the English lan- 
 guage with greater accuracy than his Majesty, Kamehameha IV. 
 
 While at Strong's Island, we were surprised in mingling among the 
 natives to find so many of them who were able to speak in the jargon 
 which has been thus introduced.. Their ability to pronounce some o" 
 the difficult sounds of the English language was very remarkable. 
 We tested their ability by requesting a native who had never left the 
 island, to pronounce such words as Mississippi, Missouri, Shalmanezer 
 and several other words in which sibilants abound. He could do it, 
 with the utmost ease. We found the Caroline Islanders much more 
 readily acquiring a knowledge of the English language, than the in- 
 habitants of the Hawaiian Islands, who find it exceedingly difficult for 
 their organs of speech to enunciate any words abounding with hissi??g 
 sounds. 
 
 Mr. Snow is preparing a Grammar of the Kusaien language, which 
 he finds to possess many peculiarities, which will be interesting to 
 philologists. It is evidently a dialect of the same language as spoken 
 by the Caroline Islanders generally, but totally unlike the language of 
 Polynesians. It is a language abounding with words signifying def- 
 erential respect, for those in authority, especially for chiefs. " Your 
 Honor," " Your Excellency," "My Lord," &c., &c., interlard the or- 
 dinary conversational intercourse of life. .An Hidalgo from Old Spain, 
 would probably find the Kusaiens fully equal to the genuine Castilians 
 in the punctilios of conversation. 
 
It was amusing, and rather suggestive, to witness a people living iu 
 filth and nakedness, debased to the very lowest degree in the social 
 scale, still maintaining a species of refined intercourse, and delicate re- 
 spect for one another. When they speak it is in a quiet undertone, 
 very far removed from a rude, boisterous and hilarious turn of mind. 
 They are seldom, if ever, known to engage in insolent and angry dis- 
 cussion. When one becomes angry with another, he does not vent his 
 anger by outrageous language and violent blows, but quietly turns 
 away, and refuses to speak with the offending party! A Kusaien can 
 receive no greater insult than for a neighbor to refuse to speak to him! 
 We asked Mr. Snow, how a Kusaien would exhibit his anger towards 
 a person who had offended him ? He replied, " by refusing to speak to 
 him." If with us " silence gives consent," with the Kusaiens, " si- 
 lence shows contempt." 
 
 XXXI. 
 
 KING GEORGE OF KUSAIE. 
 
 Long before the Missionaries landed upon Kusaie, or Strong's 
 Island, through the reports of shipmasters and sailors, we had been 
 made acquainted with King George. He was a very remarkable man, 
 considering the circumstances of his birth and education. Capt. Jack- 
 son, of the whale ship Inez, makes the following remarks respecting 
 King George: " The King is a man of good sense and sound judg- 
 ment, possessing a large share of Indian cunning and craftiness ; for in- 
 stance, when I talked with him about their religion and smiled at some 
 of their superstitious customs, he winked and said it was the fashion of 
 Strong's Island, giving me to understand that he knew better." (See 
 Friend, February, 1849.) This man often expressed a desire to have 
 missionaries sent to Kusaie, and sincerely deplored the sad effects of the 
 intercourse of his people with persons of abandoned character. Capt. 
 Jackson's letter contains full particulars upon this subject. 
 
 On the arrival of the missionaries in 1852, King George received 
 them with open arms. The Kev. Mr. Snow thus writes under date of 
 Oct. 14, 1852: " Here I am on the much talked of island, and Mrs. 
 Snow with myself and one of the Hawaiian families are to remain 
 with the far-famed King George. In the early communications of the 
 missionaries residing upon that island, there is very frequent and full 
 mention of this King. He entered fully into the object of the mission 
 and exerted his influence to promote its success. He caused a large 
 church to be built and promoted the instruction of the young. As we 
 have already stated, in Paper XXV, King George died in Sept. 9th, 
 1854, universally lamented by his people, and in the opinion of the 
 missionary, a sincere believer in the gospel of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ. 
 
 In furnishing this brief notice of King George of Kusaie, we are" re- 
 minded of another King George, even more remarkable, and worthy to 
 be ranked among the most distinguished of all the Kings who have 
 ever arisen and reigned in any of the islands ot Polynesia. We refer 
 
m 
 
 to King George the present reigning King of Tonga, one of the Friend- 
 ly Islands of the " South Seas," and local preacher in the Wesleyan 
 Methodist Church. We are unable to state his age, but know that he 
 has been King of that island over twenty years. He is known among all 
 the South Sea Islands as a remarkable man, and wise ruler, while his 
 fame has extended abroad to other parts of the world. Sir E. Home, 
 commanding the British man-of-war, Calliope, thus refers to him in 
 1852 : " I saw the noble and Christian conduct of King George. He 
 can only be compared to Alfred the Great, of blessed memory. He is 
 worthy of being called a King. He is the greatest man in these seas." 
 
 "In November, Sir E. Home returned in the Calliope to the Friendly 
 Isles, that he might learn the result of the visit of the French ship ot 
 war. He seemed very anxious that no harm should happen 
 to the Friendly Islanders or the King. His visit was an occasion of 
 much joy to all parties. However, the French ship had not arrived. 
 But on the 12th of November, two days after Sir E. Home left Tonga, 
 the Moselle made her appearance. Her commander, Captain Belland, 
 was commissioned by the Popish governor of Tahiti to inquire into 
 certain complaints lodged against King George by the captain of a 
 French whaler, the Gustave of Havre-de-Grace, and also by the Ko- 
 mish priests residing in Tonga. The King obeyed the summons of the 
 captain, and went on board the Moselle, taking witth him his state pa- 
 paper box, in which he had copies of all his correspondence, especially 
 that with the Komish priesls. The correspondence he laid before the 
 captain, who viewed the King and his papers with astonishment. At 
 the close of their long interview, which lasted five hours, and through- 
 out which the King conducted himself with the greatest Christian pro- 
 priety, the French captain expressed himself entirely satisfied, and 
 stated to the King that " the French government, through him, ac- 
 knowledged George as King of the Friendly Islands ; and that the only 
 condition he would impose was that, if any Frenchman chose to reside 
 in his dominions, he should be protected, so long as he obeyed the laws ; 
 and that if any of the king's subjects chose to become Roman Catholics, 
 they should be allowed to do so." To these conditions the King agreed, 
 and the dreaded French war ship took her departure, the captain de- 
 claring that he " had seen and conversed with many chiefs in the 
 South Seas, but that he had not seen one to be compared in knowledge 
 and ability, in courage and dignity, to George, the King of the Friendly 
 Islands." (Cyclopedia of Missions.) 
 
 Our latest notice of King George is in the London Watchman, of Au- 
 gust 1, 1861. Dr. Dobson, who had just returned from Australia, when 
 addressing the Wesleyan Conference, thus refers to King George; "And 
 I have further to add, that King George, the Methodist Local Preacher 
 of Tonga, asks counsel on the law of Divorce in his dominions." From 
 this brief allusion, we learn that he is still alive and laboriously en- 
 gaged in adjusting the civil and religious statutes of Tonga. When we 
 know what Christianity hns done for some of the chiefs and rulers of 
 the Polynesian Islands, we cannot but express our regrets that the gos- 
 pel should not have been made known among them until the 19th 
 century, 
 
54 
 XXXII. 
 
 A GLANCE AT THE CAROLINE ISLANDS. 
 
 Most of the islands or islets of this extensive range or Archipelago, 
 are quite too small to find a place in any School Atlas, or even those 
 maps which purport to embrace all the islands of the Pacific. The 
 Caroline Archipelago is made up of no less than forty-eight small groups, 
 and these groups contain nearly five hundred small islands. Of these 
 five hundred islands, at most, there are but four or five high islands, 
 hence this Archipelago contains nearly five hundred small coralline 
 islets. The Russian navigator Lutke, makes the following significant 
 remarks respecting these islands : " With the exception of the high 
 Islands of Ualan, Ponapi, and Koug, if they were all collected together, 
 and then placed above the spire of the fortress of Petropauloski, they 
 would not hardly cover all St. Petersburgh and its suburbs. The length 
 of all the islands joined together (I do not mean the reefs) would be 
 25 German miles ; the breadth of but very few of them exceeds 200 
 yards, and half of them are beneath this measurement." 
 
 It was our privilege to visit but two islands of this Archipelago, viz: 
 Ualan, Kusaie, or Strong's Island, and Ascension, or Ponapi. Both of 
 these are high islands. They are basaltic in their formation. From 
 their productions, situation and good harbors, they have been much 
 frequented by ships. They are the only islands upon which mission- 
 aries have become located. Missions were established upon both Ualan 
 and Ponapi, in 1852, when the schooner Caroline made the first Mis- 
 sionary voyage to that portion of the Pacific. 
 
 Some of the Caroline Islands were discovered by the Spaniards in 
 the 16th and 17th centuries. It is chiefly due to the Russian and 
 French navigators, that we are indebted for surveys of these islands. 
 Capt. Duperrey, in the French ship La Coquette, in 1823, and Rear- 
 Admiral Lutke, of the La Seniavine, thoroughly explored and surveyed 
 some of these islands, including Ualan and Ponapi. 
 
 XXX1IL 
 
 ISLAND OF PONAPI, OR ASCENSION. 
 
 Two days after leaving Strong's Island, we caught a glimse of Po- 
 napi, but did not come to anchor until the next morning, June 23d. 
 The Morning Star remained at anchor in the middle harbor, eleven 
 days. During this period, it was our privilege to twice visit each of 
 the Mission Stations at Kiti, (Rev. Mr. Sturges') and Shalong, (Rev. 
 Mr. Roberts'.) By day and night, we cruised over the reefs, visited 
 places of interest, and explored the far-famed ruins. 
 
 This island produces abundantly, yams, bread fruit, bananas, pine 
 apples, squashes, sago, cocoanuts, arrow-root, sweet potatoes, and many 
 other tropical productions. It is densely wooded and produces several 
 varieties of excellent ship timber. We met at the island Capt, Newald of 
 Boston, who was building a schooner of about 60 tons. He spoke of 
 
the ship-timber as of a most excellent quality. One species he called 
 Bermuda Cedar, which is highly prized by the shipbuilders of Eng- 
 land, and another species, much resembling the Yatti of Java, which 
 is much prized in the East Indies. This island is well adapted 
 to the cultivation of rice and sugar cane. It is the largest island of 
 the Caroline Archipelago, being about fifty miles in circumference. It 
 is surrounded by an extensive barrier reef, over which the surf breaks, 
 three, six, eight and ten miles from the main land. 
 
 The forests abound with various tropical birds, including pigeon?, 
 parrots and a great variety of beautiful songsters. We have not heard 
 such forest music for many years, as greeted our ears at the Rev. Mr. 
 Sturges' Station. The sea abounds with a great variety of fish, and 
 the reefs are peopled by an endless diversity of rnollusks and shell fish. 
 We do not believe any island of this vast ocean presents a more inter- 
 esting field of exploration, for the botanist, conchologist, entomologist, 
 or the adept in any department of the natural sciences. 
 
 XXXIV. 
 
 NIGHT OF TOIL AT PONAP1. 
 
 " Twice fifty months in slow succession fled, 
 By faithful hands the gospel lamp was fed : 
 Fervent in zeal, their labors knew no pause, 
 Yet still no wakening convert blessed the cause." 
 
 Elliot, the apostle to the Indians of New England, preached his first 
 sermon among them in 1646, but gathered no church until 1660. Long 
 was that night of toil and season of trial. The pioneer missionaries to 
 the "South Seas," labored for nearly twenty years, before the light of 
 morning broke upon their night of trial. At the end of sixteen years, a 
 few converts were gathered, sufficient to occasion the remark, "In that 
 cue year they reaped the harvest of sixteen laborious seed-times, sixteen 
 dreary and anxious winters, and sixteen unproductive summers." The 
 first baptism, however, was not administered at Tahiti until 1819, twenty 
 two years after the missionaries landed from the ship Duf. That was 
 indeed a long night of toil, and long trial of the strength of the mis- 
 sionary's faith. The English Missionaries in New Zealand, under the 
 patronage of the Church Missionary Society, labored and toiled for a 
 period of nine years, before they were permitted to administer the rite of 
 baptism to their first converts, and at the end of twenty years the mission- 
 ries reported but eight baptized converts. During subsequent years 
 the spread of Christianity was exceedingly rapid, for from 1839 to 1849, 
 in one district, the number of baptisms leached 2,893. 
 
 The American missionaries on the island of Ponapi or Ascension, 
 have been called to pass through a similar night of toil, and season of 
 trial, although not so long. Messrs. Sturges and Gulick landed there in. 
 1852, but it was not until within the past year that a church has been 
 organized: ^ 
 
 ** Twice fifty months, 5a slow succesion fled, 
 By faithful hands the gospel lamp wa3 fed," 
 
56 
 
 before they were permitted to welcome converts from among the Poua- 
 pians, around the sacramental table, and administer the rite of baptism. 
 That privilege was granted the Kev. Mr. Sturges, last autumn, when 
 he organized a church at Konokiti, and another at Shalong. The for- 
 mer now numbers twelve members, (as many as our Saviour gathered 
 around him, at the end of his evenful life,) and the latter numbers six 
 members, all of whom are now walking circumspectly, while a few oth- 
 ers are affording the gratifying evidences that their hearts have been 
 savingly wrought upon, by the influence of the Holy Spirit. A spirit- 
 ual work has unquestionably been commenced among the Ponapians. 
 The missionary's heart has been made glad, and doubtless angels have 
 rejoiced over the conversion of more than one sinner among that dark 
 hearted and superstitious race. It remains to be seen, whether the good 
 work shall progress. It will not surprise us to learn that this work is 
 opposed by the chiefs and many of the people. Symptoms of opposi- 
 tion and annoyance have already been manifested. Some of these oc- 
 curred about the time of our visit. There was a state of things among 
 the Ponapians, strikingly illustrative of the following philosophic re- 
 mark of one of the English missionaries laboring in the " South Seas." 
 ' It is found in the history of missions, that the most severe trials do 
 not generally occur till the gospel begins to take effect. So long as all 
 remains in the stillness of spiritual death, the missionary is generally 
 permitted to carry on his work with comparatively little molestation ; 
 but when the power of divine truth begins to be felt on the heart, and 
 decided symptoms of spiritual life show themselves, then it is found 
 that the Lord of missions did not say in vain, ' Suppose ye that I am 
 come to give peace on earth : 1 tell you nay, but rather division.' " 
 These remarks were originally written with reference to the progress of 
 the missionary work on Aneiteum, one of the New Hebrides, but they 
 may yet apply with force to the work of missions in the North Pacific. 
 The friends of missions must not be surprised if such is the fact. (See 
 Cyclopedia of Missions, page 712.) 
 
 "it may not be uninteresting to review the progress of the mission 
 upon Ponapi, or Ascension, and see if causes have not been operating 
 to produce a state of things indicated in the foregoing paragraphs. 
 
 Spanish navigators may have touched at Ponapi, as early as the 
 close of the 16th century, but the island could not have been said to be 
 discovered and explored until 1828, when visited by Lutke, of the 
 KussianCorvetle, La Seniamne. (See Dr. Gulick's third Lecture.) From 
 that time to the present, the island has been repeatedly visited, and be- 
 come the resort of whaleships. The inhabitants of Ponapi, from read- 
 ing and observation, we should infer were of the Chinese and Malay 
 races intermingled, having scarcely any physiological or mental char- 
 acteristics in common with the Polynesian races. Intellectually we be-, 
 lieve them to have been decidedly superior to Hawaiians or any Poly- 
 nesian race which we have seen. Dr. Gulick remarks, in regard to them, 
 that " their minds are extremely inclined to suspiciousness and dis- 
 pleasure, but there seems to be no basis for the darker shades of sullen 
 moroleness. * * The. Malayan trait of deception is carried on as far 
 as their loose characters permit/' 
 
57 
 
 They are divided into live tribes, the metes and bounds of which, are 
 distinctly defined. Each tribe has its King and Chiefs, high and low. 
 Among these tribes there is a deep rooted jealousy. Although the 
 census of the island would n>t now number over five or six thousand, 
 still the tribal laws are perpetuated, and so far as intercourse is main- 
 tained among the chiefs, much stately formality is observed, as appears 
 in their feasts. There is no metropolitan or central government, no 
 London, or Paiis, or Washington. From all we could learn, therein 
 no tendency to union, but each tribe, and the rulers of each tribe choose 
 to remain separate and distinct. We are not sure but the lines of 
 the English poet will be found true when applied to Ponapians : 
 
 " Mountains interposed, 
 
 Make enemies of nations, who had else, 
 Like kindred drops, been mingled into one." 
 
 The Ponapians do not even congregate in villages, but their houses 
 are scattered, here and there, along the shores or through the forests, 
 and around the bays. There existing several good harbors upon the island . 
 ships have resorted thither for trading and obtaining supplies. From 
 1S28 to 1852, vicious indulgences and immoral practices were carried 
 on between the natives and low foreigners, with no one to utter a rebuke 
 or interpose a remonstrance. Ascension became emphatically the 
 Paradise of beach-combers, alias escapes from Sydney, and runaway 
 Bailors." The influence of this class of persons among the people, was 
 evil and only evil, and that continually. While visiting the Ronokiti 
 Station, we called upon an old man, who had lived upon the island 
 since 1832, or nearly thirty years. He was sick and approaching the 
 end of life. We visited the poor old man three times, and conversed 
 with him freely about the past. When asked, " What could have led 
 you to settle among this people and live so long here ?" his reply was, 
 <; to lead a life of laziness, drunkenness, debauchery and licentiousness." 
 This answer told the whole story, and revealed the character of scores 
 who have found a home upon Ascension. All the vices of civilization 
 were rife there, so far as foreigner? could introduce them among a de- 
 graded and heathen people. It was considered dangerous for ships to 
 touch at some of the harbors. 
 
 Among such a people, and living under such influences, the Ameri- 
 can Mission was established in 1852. Hardly had the work been com- 
 menced, when, in 1854, the small pox appeared and not merely deci- 
 mated the inhabitants as at the Sandwich Islands, but actually took 
 every other man, woman and child, reducing the population more than 
 one-half. It will readily be seen that the two missionaries, Messrs. Stur- 
 ges and Gulick, commenced their work under circumstances as unpro- 
 pitious and unfavorable as it is possible to conceive. The nation wa^ 
 reduced to its lowest state. This generation had inherited the terrible 
 egacy of by-gone generations of superstition, vice and crime, to which 
 was superadded a vast influx of foreign immoralities and vices, upheld 
 *fid practiced by men devoid of shame, and impelled forward by the 
 spirit of evil. If Christianity triumphs over so many counter influ 
 ?nces, it must be the work of time, and the youthful soldiers of the 
 8 
 
58 
 
 cross need not be surprised if they are called upon to pray, watch and 
 labor, through a long "night of toil." Blessed be God, there are indica- 
 tions,' that that " night of toil is drawing to a close." There are indi- 
 cations of a dawning light. The Morning Star, has appeared, and it 
 .3 to be hoped the Sun of righteousness will ere long make his appear- 
 ance. It has been our privilege to visit that spot, where the elements 
 of light and darkness are now struggling for the mastery. Our inquiry 
 
 W33, 
 
 " Watchman ! tell us of the night, 
 What its signs of promise are ?" 
 We heard the reply, 
 
 "Traveler ! o'er yon mountain's height, 
 See that glory-beaming Star." 
 
 We asked again, 
 
 " Watchman ! does its beauteous ray 
 Aught of hope or joy fortell ?" 
 
 The cheering answer came, 
 
 " Traveler, yes : it brings the day, 
 Promised day to Israel." 
 
 XXXV. 
 
 HEATHEN DEGRADATION INDICATED BY THEIR LAN- 
 GUAGE. 
 
 It is the remark of an eminent English writer, " To study a people's 
 language will be to study them, and to study them at best advantage, 
 when they present themselves to us under fewest disguises, most nearly 
 as they are." The truth of this remark is as applicable to the study 
 of the inhabitants of Polynesia as to the polished nations of Europe, 
 In our efforts to arrive at a tolerably correct view of Micronesians, we 
 round no better method, than to sit down with the missionaries, 
 r.nd question them upon their success in communicating with their peo 
 ;le upon religious subjects. It is a comparatively easy matter to pick 
 up a few words and phrases, sufficient to barter in knives, fish hooks, 
 and cloth. The trader may do this, in a few hours, but it is a very 
 different affair to take up a grammatical and accurate study of their 
 Languages, so that the missionary may be able to translate the Bible, 
 compile school books, and compose hymns. This however is the 
 missionary's principal work, but it is a work which yields a large re- 
 ward. It introduces him to the very heart of the people. He sees 
 their naked bodies with his eyes, but the study of their languages en- 
 ables him to see their moral and spiritual nakedness and deformity. 
 Their departure from God may be estimated by their language, agree- 
 able to the words of our Saviour: " But those things which proceed out 
 of the mouth come forth from the heart; and these defile the man." 
 Math. 15:18. " How can ye, being evil, speak good things, for out of 
 
59 
 
 the abundance of the lieart the mouth speaketh." Matt. 12:34. A 
 people's language must indicate their moral character. The missionary 
 becoming intimately acquainted with the language of the heathen, ^ 
 able to judge, as no other person can, not acquainted with their lan- 
 guage, respecting the moral degradation of the heathen. While the 
 languages of Micronesia and other heathen nations or tribes are des- 
 titute of words and phrases to convey correct ideas of God and mora; 
 subjects generally, yet those same languages abound with words and 
 terms respecting disgusting subjects and forbidden thoughts. Their vo- 
 cabularies are wonderfully prolific in unchaste and impure words and 
 terms. How painfully the mind of the missionary is tried, when he 
 would translate the Bible into the language of the heathen. He finds 
 that their languages are wanting in the words and terms required for 
 translation. These languages may once have possessed those necessary 
 sounds and terms, but alas, so far have the heathen wandered from th* 
 right way, and so grievously have they departed from God, that they 
 have lost correct ideas of the Divine Being and his worship. Hence, 
 the missionary must spend toilsome days and sleepless nights, in hiic 
 search after the proper terms, words and phrases to express religion 
 truths. We found every missionary in Micronesia, eager in the study 
 of the language of those islanders, where they are located, because 
 there are now four American Missionaries in Micronesia, and each one 
 is endeavoring to acquire the knowledge of what may be classified as 
 a new language, for the inhabitants of Apaiang, Ebon, Kusaie, and 
 Ponapi, speak really different languages, rather than different dialects of 
 the same language. 
 
 The difficulty attending these labors of the missionary, is often 
 very great. He will spend months and even years before he is able to 
 fix upon some word that will correspond to ttie Bible idea which he 
 wishes to convey. The Rev. Mr. Sturges, although nine years amom: 
 the Ponapians, has not yet settled upon the proper and satisfactory word 
 for conscience, in the Ponapian language. The Rev. Mr. Doane, al- 
 though speaking the language of the Marshall Islanders with fluency, 
 after a residence of four years upon Ebon, has not yet been able to 
 ascertain if there is any word in that language which correctly conveys 
 the idea of regeneration or the new birth. Mr. Sturges has been equal- 
 ly perplexed respecting the same word, but more recently, he hopes, 
 that he has met with a term that conveys the idea, viz : wttikap ate. 
 Wili signifiying exchange, Kap new, and Ata the directive. We asked 
 him to inform us what a Ponapian understood by this term "Wilikap 
 ata." He replied, that a native once illustrated the term thus, " A 
 person born anew or again, is the same as if a shriveled and decrepit 
 old woman should suddenly become young again." 
 
 Thus the missionaries in Micronesia, are laboring in the same man- 
 ner as the apostles did, respecting whom an English divine has re- 
 marked, that they t; fetched from the dregs of paganism, words which 
 the Holy Spirit has not refused to employ for the setting forth of the 
 great truths of our redemption." The Greek word translated " regen- 
 eration," is a good illustration of this remark. This word, it was 
 necessary, however, to convert from paganism to Christianity to 
 
60 
 
 f cangelize it, if the term may be allowed ! Long has Mr. Doane been 
 laboring to fix upon some word to signify repentance ; but we need not 
 produce other instances, for they have been continually occurring in the 
 studies of every missionary not only in Micronesia and Hawaii, but 
 every part of the heathen world where missionaries have gone. How 
 little. the unreflecting visitor can sympathize with the missionary in his 
 labors and to*ls or pilikias, to employ a term of Hawaiian derivation 
 rapidly gaining currency among foreigners in the Pacific, and which 
 ere long may take its position beside Tabu, in Webster and Worcester. 
 Viewing the labors of the missionary from this point of observation, he 
 takes a position among the scholars and linguists of the world. Enter 
 his sanctum, and you see spread out upon his table, lexicons, diction- 
 aries, books of exegesis, manuscripts, Greek Testament, and by his side 
 sits a native, who is continually plied with questions respecting the 
 meaning of words and sounds of letters, and it would not be strange if 
 the missionary's wife was called from her domestic duties in the 
 nursery or kitchen to give her opinion upon the meaning of some word 
 or phrase ! Thus the missionary is employed in digging up Greek roots, 
 examining Hebrew points, comparing English and German dictionaries, 
 looking into numerous commentaries, and gathering information from 
 every imaginable source, in order to translate the " Glorious gospel of 
 the blessed God " into the language of the heathen to whom he has been 
 sent. The eminent Dr. Judson, often lamented his want of books, 
 dictionaries and other aids, in the work of translation. On one occa- 
 sion, in writing to the Secretary of the Baptist Missionary Society in 
 Boston, he thus remarks : "I frequently see a sterling work on the cover 
 of the Herald or Magazine, and am ready to scream with variations 
 The Book, the Book, my kingdom for a Book!' Yes, a kingdom, ii 
 the same ship which brought the notice had brought the book too ; 
 whereas I have to wait for letters to cross the ocean twice or three 
 times at least, and thus two or three years' use of the book is lost, du- 
 ring which time I am, perhaps, working upon that very portion of scrip- 
 ture which that book is intended to illustrate." 
 
 Who will not say that the missionary's life is a noble one, when 
 thus employed? He is following in the foot-steps of Wickliffe, 
 Tyndale and that glorious company of biblical scholars of the 17th 
 century, who furnished our incomparable English version of the Bible. 
 Thus Elliot toiled, and his translation of the Bible into the language 
 of the Indians of Massachusetts, is a noble monument to his memory. 
 Thus Judson toiled, and after forty years, gave the Bible in the ver- 
 nacular to the Burmese. Thus we found the missionaries in Micro- 
 nesia at their work. Toil on, Brethren ! Our visit may not have ben- 
 efited you, but it did us good. You are doing a good and noble work. 
 If language is " the amber in which a thousand precious and subtle 
 thoughts have been embedded and preserved," you are embedding 
 heavenly and divine truths in the languages of Micronesia, which will 
 be preserved long after your labors have ceased, and continue to guide 
 immortal souls in the pathway toward heaven ! 
 
 The following paragraph from a lecture of Prof. Trench, King's 
 -College, London, will show that Catholic Missionaries, in South Amer- 
 
61 
 
 ica, meet with the same leading facts among the heathen, that \v f . 
 have referred to in the labors of Protestants. 
 
 " Dobrizhoffer, the Jesuit Missionary, in his curious History of the 
 Abipones, tells us that neither they nor the Guarinnies, two of the prin- 
 cipal native tribes of Brazil, with whose language he was intimately 
 acquainted, possessed any word which in the least corresponded to our 
 1 Thanks.' But what wonder if the feeling of gratitude was entirely 
 absent from their hearts, that they should not have possessed the cor- 
 responding word in their vocabularies ? Nay, how should they have 
 had it there ? And that this is the true explanation, is plain from a fact 
 which the tame writer records, that although inveterate askers, they 
 never showed the slightest sense of obligation, or of gratitude, when 
 they obtained what they sought; never saying more than, 'This will 
 be useful to me,' or 4 This is what I wanted.' " We would merely 
 add, that similar remarks have we heard again and again from Protes- 
 tant Missionaries in the Sandwich Islands and Micronesia. 
 
 XXXVI. 
 
 HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY ; OR DISHONESTY THE 
 WORST POLICY. 
 
 This oft-quoted old English proverb, finds facts in abundance to cor- 
 roborate its truth. It is not only true when applied to the dealings of 
 men in civilized and Christian lands, but to the dealings of those from 
 civilized and Christian lands who go among savages for the purposes of 
 barter and trade. In our intercourse among the inhabitants of Micro- 
 nesia, this fact vyas painfully impressed upon us, by too many sad ex- 
 amples of injustice and dishonesty, that honesty and fair dealing has 
 not been the rule which has guided the civilized man in his traffic and 
 dealings with the savage. Instances of well attested fraud and mean- 
 ness, are commonly reported in those regions, which if brought before a 
 jury of twelve honest men, would send the perpetrators to the State 
 prison, or transport them to the penal colonies of Australia. Take the 
 following as an example: a certain shipmaster in his dealings with the 
 natives of the Marshall Islands, agreed to pay a certain amount of to- 
 bacco, but what does he give in its place ? pieces of old tarred rope, cut 
 up to correspond to the length of plugs of tobacco ! That man may have 
 thought he had done a smart thing, and drove a profitable trade, but 
 only think of the meanness and guilt of the infamous transaction. 
 Hanging with a piece of tarred rope, would be too lenient a punish- 
 ment for such guilty meanness. Think of the enmity which one such 
 act would excite and keep alive among those savages ! No wonder 
 their policy has been one of blood and murder towards the white man. 
 
 Take another example. The inhabitants of Ebon, one of the Mar- 
 shall Islands cut off a California schooner in 1852. Among the spoils, 
 they found gold. It can be proved that it was not the chiefs, but 
 some of the common people, who committed this act of piracy. The 
 chiefs however took the money. A certain ship master touches at Eb- 
 on, and finds this gold among the people. He obtains several hundred 
 
62 
 
 dollars in gold, and promises to piv in tobacco, but getting the gold 
 into his possession, makes sail and leaves the island. He doubtless 
 reasons, those islanders are pirates and robbers ; they have no 
 right to this money ! But what right had that shipmaster ? Had he 
 any better claim than that of a robber and a pirate ? If that shipmas- 
 ter was an Englishman or American, we ask him to ponder this proverb, 
 " The receiver is as bad as the thief" If he was a Frenchman, let him 
 ponder a proverb to be found in his language, which translated into 
 English, reads thus : " He sins as much icho holds a sack, as he who puts 
 into it." 
 
 Respecting another shipmaster, who formerly cruised in that region 
 and took away from Ebon some of the gold referred to, we would re- 
 mark that he came to a most untimely fate. A correspondent of the 
 
 Friend thus wrote from Ascension, Feb. 19, 1853: " Captain , of 
 
 the William Penn received, it is said, over a thousand dollars. It was 
 for this money one of his crew, an Oahu native killed him. That 
 native has since been killed on Simpson's Island, by one, it is said, 
 whom he himself was about to shoot. Thus do the dead bury their 
 dead, and murderers execute murderers/' (See Friend for July, 1853.) 
 
 We might multiply examples, almost without end, of the base tricks 
 and little meannesses, dishonest bargains and dishonorable dealings of 
 the white man with the savage or the inhabitants of Micronesia. Per- 
 haps no islanders have ever fared worse, at the hands of the white man, 
 than the New Zealanders, at the hands of Sydney traders and whalers. 
 \Ve quote the following from an English book, entitled " The South- 
 ern Cross and Southern Crown, or the Gospel in New Zealand :" 
 
 " A little incident occurred one day when dining with a large 
 party at Government House. [Sydney in 1806,] showing Tippahee's 
 shrewdness of observation, and courage in expressing his opinion. 
 [Tippahee was a New Zealand chief, who was visiting Port 
 Jackson, Sydney.] A discussion arose as to our penal code : 
 he could not reconcile our punishment of theft, with his own sense of 
 justice, maintaining that stealing food when rerhaps the chief was 
 hungry, ought not to be severely punished. He was told in reply, that 
 according to English law every man who took the property of another 
 was liable to be put to death. l Then,' exclaimed he, with animation, 
 
 addressing the Governor, * why do you not hang Captain , [pointing 
 
 to a gentleman then at the table.] Captain, he came to New Zealand, 
 
 he come ashore and tiki (steal) my potatoes ; you hang Captain .' 
 
 The captain was covered with confusion, for the charge was true ; he 
 had, when off the coast and in want of potatoes, sent a boat's crew on 
 shore, dug up Tippahee's plantation and carried off the the produce 
 without offering him the slightest remuneration." Would that this 
 was the only similar instance which might be quoted. How many 
 such instances have tended to rouse the enmity of New Zealanders, and 
 it may be true, that could the full history of the intercourse of English- 
 men with the New Zealanders, be written out, it would be found that in- 
 stances of wrong and injustice occurring a half century ago, were so 
 burnt into the souls of the New Zealanders, that they are remotely the 
 cause of that relentless war now raging between New Zealanders and 
 
63 
 
 English soldiers. We now recall to mind the .story of an Englishman, 
 from New Zealand, related in our hearing some years ago. In a for- 
 mer war, the seat of which was the Bay of Islands, the natives were 
 off their guard and unprepared for an attack, because it was the Chris- 
 tian Sabbath ! They were told that Christian soldiers would not make 
 an attack upon that day ! Alas, that was the day when they rushed 
 in and butchered the unsuspecting savages ! (See Southern Cross, 
 &c., page 226.) 
 
 While referring to " the tricks of traders," we recall to mind the in- 
 stance of a certain shipmaster, (and we could give name of ship and 
 master,) who purchased furs of an Indian in Plover Bay, Arctic 
 Ocean, and agreed to pay in rum, but so adroitly was the Indian 
 deceived, that he took ashore a keg of salt water ! As if dealing in 
 rum was not sufficiently bad, but the mean souled man must put salt 
 water into the keg, in place of the rum ! ! What would not such a 
 man do for money ! We frequently met that man in the streets of 
 Honolulu. He acknowledged the deed, but tried to apologize lor its 
 baseness. We asked him, could you blame those Indians, if they cut 
 off the next ship which entered their Bay for trade or supplies ? He 
 replied not a word, and we parted. When we reflect upon such in- 
 stances of guilty meanness and dishonorable baseness, we are inclined 
 to ask, when hearing of ships cut off in Micronesia and elsewhere, 
 " have not the guilty perpetrators cause for resentment ?" 
 
 If shipmasters and traders, going among savages, are not influenced 
 by the precept of our Saviour, " Do unto others, as ye would they 
 should do unto you," it is strange that they cannot be induced to act 
 from the principle of self-preservation. If they are not, very soon some 
 of their seafaring companions may be cast ashore wrecked among 
 those savages. If they are, what but death can they expect will be their 
 fate ? 
 
 There is current among the free blacks of Hayti, a proverb, which 
 we would commend to the consideration of those who are inclined to 
 deal dishonestly with savages " Before crossing the river, do not curse 
 the crocodile* smother" meaning, provoke not wantonly those into whose 
 power you presently may be cast. 
 
 While alluding to these instances of dishonorable conduct, on the 
 part of the white man, with his savage brother of a darker skin, it 
 affords us pleasure to record the fact, that many have pursued an oppo- 
 site course. The savage appreciates honesty and fair dealing. W r hen 
 traders and shipmasters pursue an honorable and upright course, they 
 are remembered and their second visit will be hailed with joy, but if a 
 trader of the opposite character ever returns, let him beware of the 
 consequences. The trouble is, the innocent are made to suffer for the 
 guilty, as at the Marshall Islands and other localities. 
 
 A most remarkable illustration of the remark that " the innocent are 
 made to suffer for the guilty," we have in the murder of the Rev. John 
 Williams, the Apostle of Polynesia and Martyr of Eru manga. We 
 copy the following from the Samoan Reporter for March, 1860. The 
 Rev. George Turner, in reporting the 14th voyage of the Missionary 
 bark John Williams, makes the following statements respecting 
 his visit to Erumanga, on Saturday, 15th of October, 1859 : 
 
64 
 
 " Anchored in Dillion's Bay on the following morning, viz., Saturday, 
 Oct. 15th. Mr. Gordon was? soon on board, and accompanied by him 
 some of us went ashore, and up the hill to his residence, about 1,000 
 feet above the level of the sea, and there we found Mrs. Gordon well. 
 Owing to the unhealthy swarnps on the low grounds, Mr. G. has built 
 his rottage on the high land. Close by the house, he has erected a 
 small chapel, and has a fine bell at the one end, which echoes from hill, 
 to hill, and calls the tribes to theii little Zion. 
 
 " Every spot was associated with the tragic scenes of November, 1839. 
 At the foot of the hill on which the chapel stands is the stream in which 
 Mr. Harris fell, and the beach where Mr. Williams ran into the sea. 
 Down the hill, below Mr. Gordon's study window, is the spot where the 
 oven was made in which Mr. Williams' body was cooked. Over in 
 another direction is the place where the body of Mr. Harris was taken. 
 Inland is a grove of cocoanuts, underneath one of which the skull ol 
 Mr. Williams was buried. The bones taken to Samoa by Capt. Crok- 
 er, in H. M. S. Favourite in 1S40, were not the remains of Williams 
 and Harris. He had no proper interpreter. The natives thought he 
 wanted to buy human bones, and took off' for sale whatever were handy 
 from one of the adjacent caves, where they deposit their dead. One 
 of the skulls was that of the father of a lad we had for some time with 
 us in our Institution in Samoa. It is difficult at present, owing to hos- 
 tility among the tribes, to get at the precise tree under which the skull 
 of Mr. Williams was buried ; but there let the remains of the martyr 
 rest, and form part and parcel of the root of that palm which waves its 
 foliage in every breeze, emblematic of the Christian hero's triumph ! 
 A piece of red sealing-wax found in Mr. W. ? s pocket was supposed by 
 the natives to be some portable god, and was carefully buried near 
 where the skull was laid. Mr. Gordon lately recovered "this, and hand- 
 ed it to me, to convey to Mr. W.'s children, as the only relic which he 
 has been able to obtain of their lamented father. At first he thought, 
 from the description of the native, that this 'god' would turn out to 
 be Mr. W.'s watch ; but when found, it was only red sealing-wax. The 
 clothes and other things found on the body after the massacre, were all 
 distributed about, with the exception of this bit of sealing-wax, an inch 
 and a half-long. 
 
 "We had the pleasure of spending a Sabbath at Erurnanga, and met 
 with about 150 of the people in their little chapel. All were quiet and 
 orderly. It thrilled our inmost soul to hear them, as led by Mr. Gor- 
 don, strike up the tune of New Lydia, and also the translation and 
 tune of There is a happy land.' Mr. Macfarlane and I addressed 
 them through Mr. Gordon. They were startled and deeply interested 
 as I told them of former times, when we tried so hard to get inter- 
 course with them, and to show them that we were different from other 
 white men who had visited their shores. When I read out the names 
 of seven who swam off to us in 1845, and to whom we shewed kind- 
 ness, and took on shore in the bout, it appeared, from the sensation 
 created, that one of them was present. He came, after the service, 
 shook hands, said some two or three more of them were alive, that our 
 visit that day greatly surprised them, and that they marked our vessel 
 
 "~ 
 
65 
 
 as the one which shewed them kindness, and did not take sandal-wood. 
 They thought us quite different from all the white men with whom 
 they had previously came in contact. 
 
 "On the Saturday, I saw and shook hands with the chief Kauiau. 
 who killed Mr. Williams, and on Monday met with him again. I 
 also saw one of his men, called Oviallo, who killed Mr. Harris. 
 These two men feel ashamed and shy when the John Williams 
 comes. Neither of them was at the service on Sabbath. Probably 
 they have had a fear also which they found it difficult to shake off. I 
 hope, however, that Kauiau has now perfect confidence in our friendly 
 intentions. On the Monday, he and Oviallo walked about with us, 
 shewed us the place where Mr. Harris was first struck, the place in the 
 stream a few yards from it where he fell, and the course along the road, 
 and down to the beach where Mr. Williams ran right into the sea. 
 Here, too, Oviallo helped us to pick up some stones to take with us as 
 mementoes to surviving friends of the sad event. Mr. Gordon has 
 erected a little printing-office and teacher's residence close to the spot 
 where the first blow was struck at Mr. Harris. I have planted a date 
 palm seed there, in a line towards the stream with the spot whfcre Mr. 
 Williams fell. 
 
 " But the most striking and permanent memento of that sad day is a 
 great flat block of coral on the road up the hill, about a gunshot from 
 the place where Mr. Williams fell. There the natives took the body, 
 laid it down, and cut three marks in the stone, to preserve the remem- 
 brance of its size. The one mark indicates the length of the head and 
 trunk, and the other the lower extremities, thus : 
 
 Head and trunk, 
 37 inches. 
 
 Extremities, 
 25 inches. 
 
 A native lay down on the spot, and, lying on his right side, with his 
 knees somewhat bent, said, that was how it was measured. 
 
 " When the Camden hove in sight, on that morning of the 20th of 
 November, '39, the Erumangas thought it was a sandal-wooding party 
 returned, who had but recently killed a number of their people, and plun- 
 dered their plantations. They were the more confirmed in this impres- 
 sion from the fact that the boat pulled in to the very place where that 
 party had landed before, and erected some huts. That morning, they 
 had all ready prepared heaps of yams and taro for a feast which was to 
 take place close by up the river ; they felt galled at the thought of their 
 being stolen by the white men, and determined to try and prevent their 
 landing; or, if they did land, to attack them if they attempted to go up 
 the river to the place where the yams and taro were. They sent the 
 women and children out of the way, and hid themselves in the bush, 
 but especially off the road leading up along the western bank of the 
 stream. When Mr. Harris made to go up there, and had reached the 
 spot where I have planted the palm tree, the shell blew, Kauiau rushed 
 out with his party, and commenced the attack. Five out of seven who 
 were foremost in the massacre are dead. The people were not united 
 in the affair ; some were for it, and some were against it ; hence the 
 remark of Capt. Morgan : 'They made signs for us to go away.' 
 the principal thing in that sad day which melted their hearts with pity 
 9 
 
66 
 
 was, they say, * the man in the boat who stood and wrang his hands 
 and wept ;' and that, I suppose, was good Capt. Morgan. 
 
 41 After surveying these scenes, so full of affecting recollections, we 
 went off to the vessel, and took Kauiau with us. We got him down 
 into the cabin, and, as this is the first time he has ventured to go below, 
 it proves that he has now entire confidence in us. We exchanged 
 presents also. We gave him a trifle, and he and the people brought 
 off to the ship forty yams, twenty heads of taro, and three bunches 
 of bananas the first present which the missionary vessel has ever 
 had from Erumanga, and the murderer of John Williams. On show- 
 ing Kauiau all over the ship, we stood before Mr. Williams' portrait in 
 the saloon, and told him that was the missionary he killed. He gazed 
 with intense interest, said he thought he could recognize the full face, 
 and the stout body, and was earnest in leading up to it some others who 
 were with him, and in explaining what it meant. Kauiau is still a 
 heathen comparatively. Let us hope that he may soon take a stand on 
 the side of Christ. Mr. Gordon says, that Oviallo is a more hopeful 
 character, and seems to be deeply grieved as he thinks of his having 
 had * hand in killing ' a man of God.' ' 
 
 Thus it appears that the apostle to Polynesia, was murdered on ac- 
 count of the iniquitous and wicked conduct of sandal wood traders. 
 " If honesty is the best policy," so "dishonesty is the worst policy." 
 
 XXXVII. 
 
 EVERY MISSIONARY TO THE HEATHEN SHOULD BE A 
 
 PHYSICIAN. 
 
 This should be the landing rule, and the only exception allowed 
 should be in those instances when the missionary goes to parts of the 
 world where there are educated physicians. We have not formed this 
 opinion hastily. Some four years ago, at our suggestion, it was dis- 
 cussed at length in the meetings of the Hawaiian Evangelical Asso- 
 ciation, and the subject was deemed of sufficient importance to be no- 
 ticed in the annual " general letter " to the Prudential Committee of 
 the American Board in Boston. 
 
 We have seen the importance of medical knowledge and informa- 
 tion among the missionaries upon these islands, but during our late 
 cruise through Micronesia, the subject has been impressed by a wider 
 range of observation. While at Apaiang, we witnessed the praise- 
 worthy effort of the Rev. Mr. Bingham, to introduce vaccination. 
 Eight days before our arrival he had visited the whale ship Belle, 
 Capt. Brown, and obtained some excellent vaccine matter from the arm 
 of Capt. B's infant child. The evening before our departure from 
 Apaiang, Mr. Birtgham, Capt. Gelett, and another person present, un- 
 dertook the work of vaccination. We hope our humble efforts may 
 prove as successful as those of Dr. Jenner, who first discovered the 
 wonderful antidote to the small-pox, but never did we feel so much the 
 importance of medical knowledge. Mr. Bingham laments his deficien- 
 cy in this respect. Medical knowledge would increase his influence 
 
67 
 
 and usefulness, we verily believe, at least twofold. The Hawaiian 
 Missionaries on Tarawa, are not supposed to know much about curing 
 bodily diseases, yet applications are made to them for medical advicel 
 
 At the Marshall Islands, this subject was forced upon our considera- 
 tion by a most painful combination of facts. There was sickness in 
 the missionary's family, but no physician was at hand. There was 
 sickness among the people, but there was no physician who felt con- 
 fidence in his ability and skill, yet Mr. Doane was continually compelled 
 to administer medicines and prescribe remedies. Mr. Doane felt so 
 strongly upon the subject, that even now, at the age of thirty-six or 
 seven, he is contemplating a visit to the United States for the purpose 
 of attending a course of Medical Lectures. 
 
 During.our detention at Kusaie, or Strong's Island, the same subject 
 came up for consideration. Mr. Snow has been obliged to administer medi- 
 cines. He is living among a diseased people. With medical knowl- 
 edge, he might not have been able to have saved a wasting race, but 
 he might have enjoyed the satisfaction of having made an intelligent 
 effort. He has done what he could, but often has been obliged to ad- 
 minister medicines, when medical knowledge might have led him to 
 have acted differently. The natives will have medicines. They are 
 believers in the art ! King George's favorite son was dangerously sick 
 a few years ago, and a whaler arrived in port. The king hurried for 
 medicine. The shipmaster gave him a bottle of something, and the 
 following morning, the young man was a corpse. The King was heard to 
 remark, " Well, the Captain's intentions were good." 
 
 On our arrival at Ponapi, we very soon became acquainted with 
 facts in abundance, to show the importance of medical knowledge 
 among missionaries. What would not the Rev. Mr. Sturges have 
 given for medical knowledge during the ravages of the smallpox? 
 The following is an extract from his journal, published in the Mission- 
 ary Herald for May, 1855 : 
 
 " July 12, 1854. The Lord's hand is heavy upon us. Never did 
 death work more fearfully, or with less opposition. The panic- struck 
 natives fly to the mountains and to uninhabited islands ; then they 
 come back again, and seize some victim of the disease to carry to their 
 homes, thus spreading the contagion to all parts, so that a spot can- 
 not be found where it is not doing fearful execution. Never was deso- 
 lation more complete. 
 
 "Nor is it a small ingredient in our bitter cup, that we can do no 
 more to lessen the evil. Our destituton of vaccine matter, the power 
 of the priests over a bigoted people, together with the stories of aban- 
 doned foreigners respecting our bringing the sickness here and our in- 
 tention to kill all the natives, render our efforts to come into contact 
 with their sufferings nearly fruitless. They often resort to the basest 
 deceptions to keep us from the dwellings of the sick, that the addi- 
 tional curse of our presence may not fall upon them. Much has been 
 said to them about inoculation ; but they do not understand its nature ; 
 and as it would kill some, and serve to spread the contagion, it seems a 
 matter of prudence not to press it. 
 
 " In these circumstances, with the dying groans of thousands in our 
 
68 
 
 ears, forced by heathen superstition and a heathenized civilization from 
 sufferings which \ve would gladly mitigate, shut out from all connection 
 with a Christian world, we love to think of the thousands who remem- 
 ber us at the throne of grace. It is sweet to go there often ourselves, 
 and to those rich promises, ' They that sow in tears shall reap in joy ;' 
 Lo, I am with you always.' 
 
 " 20. For weeks I have been mostly confined to our own district, 
 going about but little, as our Nanakin keeps his people at their homes, 
 allowing but little intercourse, wishing to keep the sickness at a dis- 
 tance. This is a large district, and nearly the only one where the 
 small-pox has not made ravages. 
 
 " During this temporary seclusion, the Nanakin, with his train, has 
 been quite attentive to his books, coming to my house every day for 
 instruction. " Besides my ordinary teaching, I have tried to commu- 
 nicate some things respecting the treatment of the small-pox to the 
 people through him ; and I hope I have not utterly failed. He would, 
 no doubt, request to be inoculated, were it not for the fears of others. 
 We rejoice, and would have our friends rejoice with us, in a more un- 
 obstructed and friendly contact with this suffering, deluded people." 
 
 SUCCESSFUL INOCULATION. As Mr. Sturges has not received a med- 
 ical education, it will be seen in the following extract that he assumed 
 a very grave responsibility. There are few men who would not shrink 
 from such a measure. (El. of Missionary Herald.} 
 
 " August 5. I have this day inoculated our Nanakin. This is de- 
 cidedly the greatest venture of my life. If he does well, all will be 
 well ; if he dies, we can hardly expect to escape savage violence. We 
 try to work the Lord's will ; and we know he always makes issues for 
 the highest good. 
 
 " 12. 1 have this day re-inoculated the Nanakin, and with him a 
 favorite brother. This shows his determination, and his confidence in 
 the missionary. Never did I feel more the need or help of special pleadings 
 with the great Physician than now. 
 
 "25. These anxious weeks are over. The Nanakin is well, having 
 had the sickness so lightly that it is hard to feel he has been sick. His 
 brother also is doing well. To the Lord let all glory be given ! I am 
 now very busy inoculating. Every body, far and near, urges me to 
 this. I have now, and shall have for weeks, more than I can do. Poor 
 people ! Some of them will die, probably many, and I must have the 
 credit of killing them. I do sometimes tremble at my responsibilities ; 
 but I will never shrink, so long as I can feel that the hand of my Master 
 is about me. The Nanakin accompanies me in my visits to distant 
 parts of the tribe. This he does that I may not have to propel my own 
 canoe, and to give more influence." 
 
 Another extract will indicate the hazard of medical practice among 
 such a people. It will also illustrate the mastery which superstition has 
 gained over them. (Ed. Missioiiary Herald. ) 
 
 " September 10. A high chief, a subject of inoculation, has just died. 
 He was one of the worst men we had, occasioning nearly all the wars 
 between the tribes, us also robberies, neighborhood quarrels, &c. He 
 urged the killing of the missionary, awhile since, as the cause of the 
 
sickness. Failing in this he fled to a small island, where he remained 
 for months, until the small-pox broke out on his premises on the main 
 land, -when he returned. Seeing me inoculate the Nanakin, he begged 
 with tears that I would do the same thing for him. Through all his 
 sickness he was anxious to see me, as he seemed to have the great- 
 est dread of dying. He might have lived ; but at the crisis of his 
 disease, the spirits appeared, saying, 'Come away,' 'Come away.' 
 On receiving this order, he was carried several miles, which was too 
 much for his weak body. Such orders for a change of place are 
 almost always given in the later stages of sickness, and doubtless cause 
 many deaths. Many are unquestionably buried alive. There are 
 frequent cases of persons rising from their grave-clothes. This fact 
 suggested to them the return of the soul to the body, after a temporary 
 absence. They hurry the corpse into the ground, to keep any stranger 
 from looking upon it, as this would greatly offend the spirit. All the 
 fears of the living seem to center in the agency of departed spirits. If 
 one is sick, or meets with anycalamiity ; if any noise is heard at night; 
 if anything singular happens, it is the work of ghosts." 
 
 Such facts, as the foregoing, are sufficient to convince any candid 
 mind that a missionary to Micronesia, should be a physician ar, well as 
 clergyman. There are very many other missionary fields where the 
 call is equally pressing for missionary physicians. We do think the 
 Board of Missions in Boston, should insist that missionary candidates 
 should have attended, at least, one course of Medical Lectures. We 
 can anticipate some of the excuses or pleas which will be offered for 
 neglecting the study of medicine by missionary candidates viz :* want 
 of time, pecuniary means, disinclination, &c. Then we reply, the Board 
 should make the rule imperative and stringent. It would be a saving 
 of money to the Board, in the end, if every missionary candidate was 
 educated as a Physician from the funds of the Missionary Society. 
 
 An eminent Frenchman, gives the following as his definition of a 
 physician : " An unfortunate gentleman who is expected every day to 
 perform a miracle, namely, to reconcile health with intemperance." 
 
 But the missionary, without medical knowledge, is still more unfor- 
 tunate, for he is expected to arrive at the same result, but must go at 
 his work blindly! 
 
 The followingextract from the "Cyclopedia of Missions," presents our 
 beau ideal of the method of carrying on the work of missions among a 
 heathen people : 
 
 " Arcot. This city is seventy miles from Madras, on the road to 
 Bangalore, and is the centre of a very populous and destitute district. 
 At this place Mr. M. Scudder commenced a mission in March, 1850. 
 Having already become quite distinguished for his medical and sur- 
 gical skill, his services were in immediate demand, from forty to fifty 
 visiting him daily. His custom was to meet his patients in the morn- 
 ing, read and explain a passage of Scripture, and pray with them, 
 after which he attended to their maladies. Through his medical la- 
 bors he gained access to many Hindoo <vomen, who could not have 
 been reached in any other way. A regular dispensary was established, 
 and Mrs. Scudder, who could speak Tamil, fluently visited it daily to 
 converse with the patients." 
 
70 
 
 Remarkable Ruins on the Island of Ascension, at the Metalanira 
 
 Harbor, built entirely of Basaltic Prisms. 
 
 Surveyed by J. T. G-xaliclc. 
 
 h-. ta 
 
 A The outer wall. 
 
 B The platform. 
 
 C The inner wall. 
 
 D The platform of the inner 
 
 will. 
 E Large steps 
 
 over the centre vault. 
 F Vaults. 
 
 to a platform 
 
 ai 
 
 G Entrance into the centre 
 vault , but uow blocked up. 
 
 II Low passages through the 
 walls. 
 
 I The position of several 
 vaults, dimensions not known. 
 
 J The platform in front. 
 
 K The entrance through the 
 outer wall. 
 
 L The entrance through the 
 inner wall. 
 
 M The main platform, the 
 same height as the platform iu 
 front. 
 
 N Water surrounding it. 
 
71 
 XXXVIII. 
 
 RUINS ON PONAPI. 
 
 In former years we have published several articles upon the ruins 
 on Ascension or Ponapi, as our readers may learn by referrng to the 
 Friend, for December 17, 1852, and August 26th, 1857. Every per- 
 son visiting the island, should not by any means leave without taking 
 a look at these remarkable ruins. In extent and regularity, they far 
 exceed those upon Kusaie. The ruins were first discovered by a sailor 
 by the name of James F. O'Connell, who was wrecked in the English 
 whale ship John Bull about the year 1S27 or '28. This man resided 
 several years upon the island, and subsequently escaped and finally 
 found his way to Boston. There he found friends, who listened to the 
 story of his adventures and published a volume, entitled, " A Residence 
 of eleven years in Netv Holland, and the Caroline, Islands ; being the Ad- 
 ventures of James F. O'Connell, edited from his verbal narrative ; pub- 
 lished by B. B. Mussey, Boston, 1836." 
 
 This volume contains much information respecting that island, and 
 is deserving of perusal by any one who wishes to acquaint himself with 
 the Caroline Islands. O'Connell was an Irishman by birth, and was 
 naturally possessed of those mental traits which render the natives of 
 the Emerald Isle, so celebrated. He must have possessed a remarkable 
 memory, a quickness of perception and no ordinary powers of observa- 
 tion. While at Ascension, we met with an old resident, who remem- 
 bered O'Connell, when he was a resident upon the island. 
 
 The foregoing sketch of the ruins, we repubhsh from the Friend of 
 December, 1852. 
 
 The Rev. E. W. Clark, who visited the ruins in 1852, thus describes 
 his visit : 
 
 "They are situated upon low land extending out upon the flats which 
 surround this island. We approached them from the inland side by 
 crossing a creek or canal 20 or 30 feet wide, walled on both sides and 
 nearly dry in low tide. This led us to the outer entrance of the ruins 
 or fortifications, which was through a large open gateway. On inspec- 
 tion, we found these ruins to consist of two quadrangular walls, one 
 within the other. The length and breadth of the outer quadrangle, by 
 a rough measurement, was 236 by 162 feet, and the wall from 6 to 10 
 feet thick, and in some places 25 feet high on the outside. This wall 
 seemed entire in some places and in others broken and overgrown with 
 vines and trees. Proceeding a few paces from the outer wall we came 
 to the entrance of the inner enclosure facing the entrance to the outer. 
 In front of the inner wall is a raised platform 10 or 12 feet wide. The 
 inner wall was about 14 feet high, where it was not broken down, and 
 6 feet thick. The top rows of basaltic prisms of which this wall was 
 built, projected over about two feet on the outside, apparently to prevent 
 the walls being scaled from without. This inner enclosure was about 
 95 feet by 75 on the outside. In the center a little raised above the 
 surrounding ground, was a large vault. The ancient entrance to it was 
 thoroughly closed by basaltic prisms, but I entered through a crevice in 
 the top. The vault I found to be about 15 feet by^ 10 inside, and 7 or 
 
72 
 
 8 feet deep. The bottom was uneven, having been dug up apparently 
 by former visitors in search of treasure or curiosities. The top of this 
 vault was covered with immense basaltic columns extending the whole 
 length and measuring 17 feet. On the top of the vault a large bread- 
 fruit tree was growing, whose roots extended down through the vault to 
 the ground below. 
 
 " There are several similar vaults in different parts of the ruins, mostly 
 between the inner and outer walls. Human bones, I believe, have been 
 found in some of them. Small pieces of ancient coin, a silver crucifix 
 and a pair of silver dividers, have been found ; also a small brass can- 
 non far inland. These were probably left here by Spanish adven- 
 turers long before the island was known to the civilized world." 
 
 We are unable to add much that would be of interest respecting these 
 ruins. Their origin, and the motive prompting their builders, are un- 
 known to the present inhabitants. We have no idea they were built for 
 warlike purposes, but rather for those of superstition, or as burial places. 
 They were far more extensive than we anticipated. We would refer our 
 readers to Dr. Gulick's admirable article in the Frie?id for August, 1857. 
 
 XXXIX. 
 
 APPEAL IN BEHALF OF THE MICRONESIAN MISSION. 
 
 On our return from Micronesia, we preached a sermon in the Bethel. 
 Sabbath morning, August 16th, from which we make the following ex- 
 tracts : 
 
 TEXT "And when they [Paul and Barnabas] were come [to Antioch] and had gath- 
 ered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and 
 how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles." Acts, xiv : 27. 
 
 In referring to the state of heathenism in Micronesia, we improved 
 the occasion to speak of the blessings of a well ordered civil government, 
 and oj the Family Institution. Illustrations of the opposite were cited 
 from scenes witnessed during our cruise. 
 
 " If we contrast the condition of the inhabitants of the islands of Mi- 
 cronesia with the condition of those living in civilized and Christian 
 communities, no well balanced mind would hesitate to decide in favor of 
 the latter. 1 have already carried out the contrast in reference to civil 
 government, and the marriage or family institution. I might also 
 continue the contrast, with reference to schools of every grade from the 
 infant school to the university; I might refer to all those social, literary 
 and religious privileges and blessings which are so highly prized by all 
 intelligent, moral and religious people. In speaking of these blessings, 
 I might ask which of them do the Micronesians enjoy ? The contents 
 of a mail-bag, they have eaten for food ! Eat for food ! In their ig- 
 norance, degradation and destitution, they have no disposition to rise to 
 a higher rank than their fathers, and their fathers lived and died more 
 like the brutes that perish, than like rational, accountable and immortal 
 beings. Shall the inhabitants of those islands have the gospel preached 
 among them? Shall those blessings which Christians and those living 
 in Christian lands^so highly prize, be offered to them, or shall they be 
 
73 
 
 left as they have hitherto been, to dwell in ignorance, vice, and degra- 
 dation, and pass onward to the bar of God, where we and they must 
 stand ? How shall we meet them, and be able to answer for it, that 
 while the Bible was in our hands and the means were in our possession, 
 we did not do all in our power to convey to them the inestimable bless- 
 ing? 
 
 " Having been permitted the privilege of making this cruise along the 
 
 shores of heathendom, and cast an eye into its dark domain, havino- 
 
 been privileged to see with my own eyes, that, through the efforts of a 
 few missionaries, God has most wonderfully and widely * opened the 
 door of faith unto the Gentiles,' I return to plead the cause of mis- 
 sions, and urge upon Christians of every name and denomination, their 
 duty to cause the gospel of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, to be 
 preached without delay among the Micronesians, Polynesians and all 
 unenlightened and unevangelical nations. My language shall be that 
 of our Saviour, when he declared, ' Say not ye, There are yet four 
 months, and then cometh the harvest ? behold I say unto you, Lift up 
 your eyes and look on the fields : for they are white already to the 
 harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto 
 life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice 
 together.' John iv: 35:36. 
 
 "There are many considerations why every reasonable effort should now 
 be made to cause the gospel to be immediately published among the dwel- 
 lers upon the islands of Micronesia, and all those portions of Polynesia, 
 which are as yet unevangelized. English Christians have vigorously 
 prosecuted the work of evangelization among the islands of the South 
 Seas group after group has been won over to the dominion of the 
 Prince of Peace. Tahitians, Samoans, Tongans, and Feegeeians have 
 successively arrayed themselves under the gospel banner. The savage 
 inhabitants of the Solomon Group, and New Guinea, remain however 
 to test the faith, try the zeal and combat the ardor of British Mission- 
 aries. Marquesans, after having virtually driven from their shores 
 British and American Christian missionaries, have finally been com- 
 pelled to ground the weapons of their spiritual warfare, and lay down 
 their arms at the feet of Hawaiian soldiers of the cross. The Ha- 
 waiian Islanders have long since concluded to range themselves on the 
 side of Christian nations. The effort is now being made to push the 
 conquests of the cross westward. As is well known, missionaries are 
 now laboring upon Apaiang, Tarawa, Ebon, Kusaie and Ponapi. They 
 have obtained not only a foot-hold, but already a harvest is being gath- 
 ered. Four months do not remain, ere sheaves shall be gathered. 
 The process of sowing and reaping is going forward together. The 
 sower going forth scattering the gospel seed, is compelled to grasp the 
 sickle and gather in the sheaves. The present seems emphatically to 
 be the favored and critical moment for prosecuting the work of missions 
 which has been so auspiciously commenced upon the Gilbert and 
 the Marshall Islands* Hawaiian missionaries can there work to good 
 advantage, and those now upon the ground are nobly co-operating with 
 missionaries from America. The difficulty is, that the mission is feeble 
 in numbers> but those few are accomplishing an Herculean work. They 
 10 
 
74 
 
 should be reinforced without delay. More American and Hawaiian 
 missionaries are called for and an open door of usefulness invites them 
 to enter the field. No youthful missionary preacher or school teacher 
 could ask or desire a more promising or inviting field. I envy not the 
 man, who can visit that portion of the heathen world, from which I 
 have returned, and gaze upon the thronging groups of children and 
 crowds of adults, and not say ' mine eye aftecteth my heart.' As I 
 visited those crowded villages, in company with the missionaries, and 
 saw the work to be done and the encouragement to labor in that work, 
 I could sympathize with those missionaries as they raised the Macedo- 
 nian cry, ' Come over, and help us.' They need help and they should 
 have it. I pledged them my word that 1 would return, and do all in my 
 power to send that help, and support both those now upon the ground 
 and as many more as can be sent thither. The Micronesian Mission, 
 I know, is under the patronage of the American Board of Missions, 
 but that organization desires the cordial co-operation of Christians and 
 the friends of missions upon these islands. That society is desirous 
 that Hawaiian Christians will send forth a goodly number of mission- 
 aries. Those Hawaiian Missionaries, now upon Apaiang, Tarawa, and 
 Ebon, are laboring efficiently and successfully, but where there is one 
 Hawaiian, there should be five. ' The harvest is great, but the la- 
 borers are few.' How earnestly ought we to pray * the Lord of the har- 
 vest that he will send for the laborers into the harvest.' " 
 
 XL. 
 
 THE LAST. 
 
 We are now brought to the last Paper, concluding the series in 
 which we have endeavored to present a sketch of what we witnessed 
 during our cruise through the Islands of Micronesia. These papers 
 have multiplied beyond our original design, and \ve now find it more 
 difficult to break off than to continue, but as there must be a " last 
 number," we have concluded that it should be " No. XL." 
 
 In bringing these sketches to a close, we are, by no means,, inclined 
 to break off our study of the Micronesians and those interesting islands. 
 We hope to have still much pleasant correspondence with the mission- 
 aries. If, in future years, circumstances should be favorable, we should 
 not be disinclined to make another trip through that region of the great 
 Pacific, hence we do not say " farewell " to either missionaries or 
 Micronesians. 
 
 We think our readers will be interested in glancing over the follow- 
 ing catalogue of Micronesian Missionaries : 
 
 American Missionaries in Micronesia. 
 
 Rev. B. G. Snow and wife, on Strong's Island, or Kusaie, from Oct. 
 1852, to present date. It is expected that they will remove to Marshall 
 Islands next year, and their station be supplied by Hawaiian Mission- 
 aries, 
 
75 
 
 Rev. L. H. Gulick, M. D., and wife, on Ascension, from Sept. 1852, to 
 October 1859 removed to Ebon, and remained there until Oct. 1860, 
 and since that time upon a visit to Hawaiian Islands, now under de- 
 signation for Gilbert or Kingsmill Islands. 
 
 Rev. A. A. Sturges and wife, on Ascension, from September, 1852, to 
 present date. Mrs. Sturges is now visiting Honolulu. 
 
 Rev. E. T. Doane and wife, on Ascension, from Feb. 1855, to Oct. 
 1857, removed in 1857 to Marshall Islands, (Ebon,) and % is now there. 
 Mrs. Doane on a visit to Honolulu. 
 
 Rev. H. Bingham,jr., and wife, on Apaiang, Gilbert Islands, from 
 Dec. 1857, to present date. 
 
 Rev. George Pitrson, M.D., and wife, on Strong's Island, from Sept. 
 1855, to Oct. 1857, and then removed to Ebon, where remained until 
 Oct. 1859. Now settled as Pastor of Presbyterian Church, in Brook- 
 lyn, California. 
 
 Rev. E. P. Roberts and wife, on Ascension, from Oct. 1858, to July, 
 1S61. Now in California. 
 
 Hawaiian Missionaries in Micronesia. 
 
 B. Kamikaida and wife. Teachers in Ascension from 1852 to his 
 death, which occurred in 1858. His wife has since been married to 
 H. Aea, the Hawaiian Missionary on Ebon, Marshall Islands. 
 
 D. Opunui and wife. He died at Strong's Island, in 1853, and his 
 wife returned to Sandwich Islands. 
 
 S. Kamnkahiki, and wife. They went to Ascension, in 1855, as 
 teachers, and returned in 1857. They are now located at Hana on the 
 island of Maui, where he is most usefully employed as a licensed 
 preacher. 
 
 /. W. Kanoa and wife. They sailed in company with Rev. Dr. 
 Pierson, in 1855, and were located two years upon Strong's Island, and 
 were then transferred to Apaiang, Gilbert Islands, where they are now 
 actively engaged in the missionary work, associated with the Kev. H. 
 Bingham, jr. 
 
 The Rev. J. Mahoe and wife, sailed in 1858, and are now upon the 
 Island of Tarawa, Gilbert Group. They are associated with 
 
 K. Haina and wife, who sailed in 1860. 
 
 H. Aea and ivife sailed in 1860, and are associated with the Kev. 
 Mr. Doane, on Ebon, Marshall Islands. 
 
 From the foregoing catalogue, it appears that seven American Mis- 
 sionaries, with their wives, and seven Hawaiians with their wives, are 
 all the laborers who have ever been employed in that missionary field. 
 Whatever of good has been accomplished has been done by them. 
 Four of the American Missionaries and four of the Hawaiians are now 
 connected with that mission. The Rev. Mr. Gulick and family, Mrs. 
 Sturges, and Mrs. Doane, are now visiting the Sandwich Islands, but 
 they are expecting to return. The Hawaiians, who have returned, 
 are not expected to be again employed. 
 
 From a careful review of the Micronesian Islands as a field of 
 missionary labor, the number of islands which should be occupied by 
 missionaries, the number of people to whom the gospel should be 
 
76 
 
 preached, the success which has attended the work, so far as prosecuted, 
 and the prospects of success, we are fully impressed with the belief 
 that the enterprise should be vigorously carried forward. There are 
 obstacles to be overcome, and difficulties to be encountered, but not 
 greater than are presented in other parts of the world. The low coral 
 islands of the Gilbert or Kingsmill and Marshall groups, are unlike many 
 other missionary fields, but judging from the present prospects, and the 
 success of missionaries upon similar localities in the " South Seas," 
 we may anticipate most happy results. The following statement 
 respecting the success of the English and native missionaries in the 
 " South Seas," upon the coral islands of the Hervey Group, we copy 
 from a recent report of the Rev, J. Bickncll, who has visited Tanning's 
 Island, where many of these natives are employed in the manufac- 
 ture of cocoanut oil : 
 
 The following communication was addressed to Rev. L. Smith, Cor- 
 responding Secretary of Hawaiian Missionary Society : 
 
 "TANNING'S ISLAND, Sept. 24, 1861. 
 " Rev. and Dear Sir : 
 
 "You are aware that in the month of June last, I took passage from 
 Honolulu in the schooner Marilda for this island. The motives which 
 influenced me to make the voyage were these ; first to confer with my 
 brother, whom I had not seen for some years second to obtain a knowl 
 edge of the manufacture of cocoanut oil : third, to form an acquain- 
 tance with the people of some of the islands of the South * Pacific un- 
 der the patronage of the London Missionary Society, so as to be in- 
 formed of the manner of operations of that Society in conducting its 
 missions. 
 
 The passage down was made in nine days. Fanning's Island is the 
 first lagoon island I have seen, consequently the sight is an agreeable 
 change. My visit has been a pleasant one, every thing being done on 
 the part of the proprietors of the island to make it so. 
 
 Upon my landing, the native operatives (people of Manihiki and 
 Rakahanga, lagoon islands of the South Pacific,) were all assembled on 
 the beach to see the Orometua, or Missionary ; word having previously 
 reached the shore that there was one on board. 
 
 Unlike the Marquesans, these people I found to be a very mild and 
 inoffensive race. In general appearance they resemble the Tahitians ; 
 their costume and style of civilization being the same. Their lan- 
 guage resembles the Rarotongan. Their missionary teachers are from 
 that island ; two of them are stationed on Manihiki, and one on Ra- 
 kahanga. Also, I found upon the island, a few natives from the Pau- 
 motu,or Chain Islands. The whole of the native population amounted 
 to about 150, about two-thirds of the number are employed in the 
 manufacture of cocoanut oil. Among these people, there were seven- 
 teen church members ; a deacon from the church at Manihiki being ap- 
 pointed over them as their spiritual teacher. 
 
 Shortly after my arrival, the operatives were paid off, their term of 
 -service having expired. On the 17th July, they returned in the Ma- 
 rilda to their homes. While they remained on the island, I conducted 
 
77 
 
 their religious services, meeting with them three times on the Sab- 
 bath, and twice through the week. With the Manihiki and Rakahan- 
 ca people, I communicated through the Karotongan language, and 
 with the Paumotuans, through the Tahitian. I found them attentive 
 listeners. Such as had Bibles, brought them to Church, and followed 
 the reading. Those who were furnished with pencil and paper, took 
 notes. One thing which struck me very favorably was this, the whole 
 congregation, both young and old, joined in the singing. As might be 
 expected, there was not very much of music in the singing, but the 
 absence of melody was compensated, however, by the hearty good-will 
 with which all joined in the strain. There was an attractive simplicity 
 in the religious worship of these islanders highly pleasing to behold. 
 Would that the like simplicity would obtain among the more civilized 
 races! 
 
 They pressed me very strongly to accompany them to their islands. 
 It would have given me great pleasure to have gone with them, but my 
 state of health, at the time, would not admit of it. I wrote a joint let- 
 ter, however, to the Missionary brethren bidding them God-speed in 
 their labor of love. Also, I put into the hands of my brother (who was 
 to accompany the people on their return) a paper containing a list of 
 questions to be asked of the Missionary Brethren. 
 
 The nature of these questions may be known from the answers to 
 them, the substance of which is as follows: 
 
 The mission on Manihiki and Rakahanga was established in 1849. 
 The John Williams (missionary bark) has called six times. Two white 
 missionaries have visited the island, Mr. Buzacott, and Mr. Gill. The 
 population of Manihiki is 464, that of Rakahanga 475. The number 
 of church members on Manihiki 137 ; on Rakahanga 94. The people 
 are governed by Kings, or Chiefs ; one on Manihiki, and one on Ra- 
 kahanga ; the chief of Rakahanga has also an influence on Manihi- 
 ki. The influence of these chiefs is considerable, (though their power 
 is not absolute as was that of the chiefs of ' Hawaii ' in former times.) 
 The missionaries receive no stated salaries their supplies consist of 
 articles of clothing, &c., contributed by the members of the churches 
 at Rarotonga. The people contribute weekly supplies of food for the 
 maintenance of the missionaries. The state of society is peaceable. 
 The people are governed by laws, which are very strict ; being the same 
 as those of Rarotonga. The missionaries exert almost an unbounded 
 influence over the people. The Rarotongan Bible and hymn book, are 
 the devotional books in use. All can read excepting some of the old 
 people. The people are on the increase. They live in villages ; the 
 houses being ranged on each side of the road. There are two villages 
 on Manihiki, and one on Rakahanga. On Rakahanga, the houses are, 
 for the most part, built of stone and plastered. The churches are built 
 of stone, of which churches there is one in each village ; the dimen- 
 sions of each being 60 feet long, 36 feet wide and 18 feet on the walls. 
 The people subsist upon cocoanutsand fish; the islands also produce a 
 species of taro of very inferior quality called by the natives, puroka, 
 the Tahitian name for it, is Apura. The islands are but seldom visited 
 by whaleships. The people obtain their supplies of clothing from Fan- 
 
78 
 
 ning's Island, as the rewards of their labors in the manufacture of 
 cocoanutoil. In former years, the clothing of these people consisted 
 of matting made from the pandanus leaf ; the men wore maros, and 
 the women the pau, and also the kihei. At present, the men are habit- 
 ed in pants and shirts, and the women in loose robes, or gowns. 
 
 On the 15th August, the Marilda returned from Manihiki, bringing 
 a new band of natives, about 130 in all. Thirty-six of the number 
 being church members. 
 
 My intercourse with these people has been of the most pleasing 
 kind. I thank God for granting me the privilege of witnessing the 
 triumphs of His grace among these islanders. I begin now to have a 
 hope of the christianization of all the islands of Polynesia. This 
 work is pre-eminently that of native missionaries. It can be carried 
 on with the aid of only a few foreign ones. Neither is there a neces- 
 sity to translate the scriptures into all the different dialects, since one 
 translation may suffice for those which are the nearest resembling, as 
 we see in the case of the Rarotongan and Manihiki languages. I see 
 no reason now why the Hawaiian literature may not be introduced into 
 the Marquesas. The resemblance between the Rarotongan and the 
 language of Manihiki, is not very much greater than that between the 
 Hawaiian and the Marquesan. 
 
 This shift I believe may be adopted with success, should the means 
 not be at hand for printing the Scriptures in the Marquesan language. 
 I have exercised the Manihiki and Rakahanga people in Bible class, and 
 have found them fluent readers of the Rarotongan Scriptures. 
 
 With a little patient instruction, Marquesans may become as equally 
 proficient in the Hawaiian. 
 
 The teachers employed among these islanders, seem to be more emi- 
 nent for their love for souls, than for their learning. The true mission- 
 ary salt is the unction for souls." 
 
 NOTE. The Morning Star Papers are printed as a " Supplement te the 
 Friend," and the postage to the United States will be four cents. 
 
 Single copy, 25 cents. 
 
 Twelve copies, $2,00 
 
 To be obtained at H. M. Whitney's Book Store, and the Sailor's Home 
 Depository. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Fifth cruise of Morning Star, 
 GILBERT ISLANDS Population, 
 
 . 5,6 
 15 
 
 - 7 
 
 K 
 
 Si 
 
 ev. L. II . Gulick, 
 
 B. G. Snow, - 
 A. A. Sturges, 
 E. W. Clark, - 
 J. Bicknell, 
 Dr. Judson, - 
 John Williams, 
 IIP WRECKS, 
 Columbia, - 
 Flying Fox, - 
 
 M. D., 
 3, 30, 36, 37, 75 
 38-48, 50-58 
 - 54-61,67-69 
 71, 72 
 76, 7H 
 60 
 64, 65 
 
 17 
 - 17 
 
 Council Houses, - 
 Government, - 
 Royal family of Tarawa, 
 Mission, - 
 Commerce, ..-...- 
 Food, - - . - 
 Foreign intercourse, 
 MARSHALL ISLANDS Population 
 
 8 
 - 9 
 9,10 
 11,12 
 15 
 - 15 
 17 
 , 34 
 
 on 
 
 29 
 
 Origin of people, 29 
 
 Foreign intercourse, - 23, 26 
 Mission, - 20, 21, 30, 31, 32 
 Kaibuke, - - - -27,28 
 
 Schools, 32 
 
 Deference to rank, 33 
 
 34,35 
 54 
 
 Farewell glance, 
 
 CAROLINE ISLANDS At a glance, 
 Island of Kusaie, 
 
 Ruins on Kusaie, - - 36, 37 
 Mission on " - - - 38, 39 
 Government " - 40, 41 
 
 Decrease of population, - 41, 42 
 Kusaien Language, - 50, 51 
 King George, - - - 52, 53 
 
 Island of Ponapi, - - 54, 55 
 Mission on Ponapi, 
 Ruins on Ponapi, - - 70,71 
 
 Rev. H. Bingham, jr., 11-14, 66, 75 
 
 Ontario, - 17 
 
 Wm. Neilson, - - - - 24 
 Sea Nymph, 
 
 Glencoe, - - - - 25 
 
 Globe, .... 26 
 John Bull, - - - - 71 
 MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS. 
 Hawaiian and Gilbert Island dialects 
 compared, 7 
 
 -- ' 11,34 
 
 21,22 
 31 
 53 
 
 58-61 
 43-48 
 Remarks upon Natural Science, 48-50 
 
 35 Translation of English hymns, 
 
 Cruise of Bark Belle, 
 "Lovers of Jesus" 
 King George of Tonga, 
 Heathen degradation, 
 Sermon, by Rev. B. G. Snow, 
 
 South Sea Misssions, 
 53-58 The Tricks of Traders, 
 
 Sea-sick Poetry, ^ - 
 Missionary Physicians, 
 
 55, 56, 76-78 
 61-74 
 14, 15 
 66-79 
 
 E. T. Doane, 19, 29-35, 66, 75j Appeal in behalf of Micronesia, 72-74