tiently waited the signal for the race.
Some delay, however, occurred in taking our seats with suitable dignity.
The carriage was very small, and my companion very large, so that I was
fain to be content with a seat upon the edge, with a very good chance of
losing my balance, had not her Majesty, to obviate the danger, encircled
my waist with her stout and powerful arm, and thus secured me on my
seat; our position, and the contrast presented by our figures, had no
doubt a sufficiently comical effect. When we were at length comfortably
settled, the Governor Chinau came forth, and with no other addition than
a round hat to the costume already described, mounted a meagre unsaddled
steed, and off we all went at full gallop, the Queen taking infinite
pains to avoid losing me by the way. The people came streaming from all
sides, shouting "_Aroha maita!_"--our team continually increasing, while
a crowd behind contended for the honour of helping to push us forward.
In this style we drove the whole length of Hanaruro, and in about a
quarter of an hour reached the church, which lies on an ugly flat, and
exactly resembles that at O Tahaiti both in external and internal
appearance.

The congregation was very small. Nomahanna and an old lady were the only
individuals of their sex; and Chinau, myself, and a few others, the only
males present. Even the people who had drawn us did not enter the
church; from which I infer, that the influence of the missionaries is by
no means so considerable as at O Tahaiti; and certainly the converts are
not yet driven with a stick into the house of prayer: nor would it be
easy to fasten on the minds of the people the fetters so patiently
endured on the Society Islands, where the labours of the missionaries
are seldom interrupted by the intervention of strangers. The Sandwich
Islanders are engaged in constant intercourse with foreign sailors,
mostly of licentious characters, who indeed profess the Christian
religion; but brought hither by the desire of gain, or the necessity of
laying in provisions for their ships, are generally wholly occupied in
driving crafty bargains, and certainly are no way instrumental in
inspiring the islanders with ideas of religion or morality, but on the
contrary, set them examples which have a direct tendency to deprave
their minds. Such among these crews as have been guilty of offences on
board ship, frequently run away and settle on the islands. This was
severely prohibit