nstitutions of the inhabitants of the
eastern part of that ocean as to Europeans, and very many native
missionaries have fallen martyrs in the cause of the gospel. In some
instances the English missionaries were the first to land, and
afterwards to employ native agency; in others, the natives were first
sent to a heathen island, and the more highly-educated white men
followed, to complete the work commenced by their dark-skinned brethren.
In many instances the missionaries had long to wait before they saw the
fruit of their labours; in others, the natives at once gladly accepted
the glorious tidings of salvation. In very few have missions been
ultimately abandoned in consequence of the hostility of the natives in
the Eastern Pacific; the Marquesas is the chief exception. In the
Western Pacific the natives have been much more hostile to the
missionaries. This has arisen in consequence of the treatment they have
often received from the crews of whale-ships, and from sandal-wood
traders. These men have been known to carry off natives from one
island, to make them cut sandal-wood on another inhabited by their
mortal foes, and after their task has been accomplished the traders have
left the poor wretches there to be butchered, and often eaten, by their
enemies, to save themselves the trouble of taking them back and paying
them their stipulated reward.

"The history of the establishment of Christianity on many of these
islands is very interesting. The way in which it was introduced into
Raratonga, the largest of the Hervey group, is so in particular. Some
natives of that island had been carried away in a whale-ship, and left
at Aitutaki. Among them was the niece of the principal chief of the
island. At Aitutaki, the great missionary Williams saw them, and,
accompanied by them, after a long search, discovered their island. This
was in 1823. The unfriendly reception he met with from the savage
natives, however, made it impossible for him to remain. Had it not
been, indeed, for the exertions of Tapaeru, the niece of the chief, who
had been carried away, the native teachers who went on shore would have
been murdered. They returned on board; but Papehia, one of their
number, as the ship was about to sail away, volunteered to return.
Tying a book containing a part of the Scriptures in a handkerchief on
his head, and clothed in a shirt and trousers only, this true servant of
Christ swam back, full of faith, to the rocks