ded entirely by themselves. I saw also an
excellent printing-press, at which several editions of the whole Bible
had been printed, as well as commentaries, and numerous other works, and
issued well bound, almost the whole work being performed by native
youths, whose fathers were wild savage cannibals, as indeed were all the
natives when first visited by the Reverend J Williams, in 1823, and such
they would have remained, had not Christian missionaries arrived among
them.

I have fallen in with many seafaring men who have abused the
missionaries in no measured terms, and I have read books written by
educated men who have done the same, and I was not quite decided whether
they were right or wrong till I went to the Pacific. Then I discovered
why those men abused the missionaries. Where the missionary has
laboured faithfully, the natives will not desecrate the sabbath, and
will not pander to the gross desires of their civilised visitors. That
is the secret of their dislike to the missionaries.

Again, however, I have met many masters of whalers and numerous officers
of the Royal Navy who have spoken and written in the highest terms of
the missionaries, and acknowledged that the change which has been
wrought through their instrumentality has been most beneficial to the
cause of commerce as well as humanity; and that whereas where formerly,
if a ship was wrecked, the destruction of her crew was almost
inevitable, now through nearly the whole of Eastern, and a considerable
portion of Western Polynesia, they would receive succour, and sympathy,
and kindness. Still there are many--very many--dark places both in
Eastern and Western Polynesia, and no Christian soldier need sigh, like
Alexander, that no more worlds remain to be conquered.

During our voyage to Raratonga I learned a great deal more about the
progress made by the missionaries of the gospel in these seas, which,
while the _Golden Crown_ lies off the island, I will briefly describe.

The London Missionary Society was established in 1795, and in the
following year it sent forth, on board the _Duff_, a band of twenty-nine
missionaries, who landed at Tahiti, one of the Society Islands, March,
1797. Some went on to Tongatabu, the chief of the Friendly Islands, and
two to Christina, one of the Marquesas. The savage character of the
inhabitants of the two last-named groups prevented success. At
Tongatabu three missionaries were murdered, and the rest made their