kindled these fires. I fear not Pele. If I
perish, then you may believe that she exists, and dread her power. But
if Jehovah saves me, then you must fear and serve Him.' As she spoke,
she cast with untrembling hand the sacred berries into the burning
crater, quietly waiting till the spectators should be convinced that no
result was to follow. Thus she succeeded in breaking through the last
lingering remnant of the long-dreaded taboo; and while the priests and
priestesses were compelled to support themselves by honest labour, their
votaries abandoned their heathen practices, and in many instances sought
instruction in the new faith.

"The examples I have given will show you the mode in which Christianity
has spread over the isles of the Pacific. But there are still
numberless dark spots to which the gospel has not been carried, and in
all, the Churches still require the support, strengthening, and
instruction which in general white men can alone afford."

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Note 1. "Journal of a Cruise among the Islands of the Pacific," by
Captain J Elphinstone Erskine, RN, page 100.

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Note 2. The _Quarterly Review_, 1853, in noticing accounts of voyages
in the Pacific, after quoting the favourable testimonies of some
writers, thus refers to others: "There is one circumstance which
produces a very painful impression: it is the extreme unfairness which
has been brought to bear against the missionaries and their proceedings,
even by reporters whose substantial good intentions we have no right to
controvert. Surely their work was one which, whatever exception we may
take against particular views or interests, ought to have excited the
sympathies, not only of those who belong to the religious party, as it
is commonly called, but of all who do not take a perverse pleasure in
contemplating human degradation as a kind of moral necessity. The
object of these devoted men was to redeem the natives from no mere
speculative unbelief, but from superstitions the most sanguinary and
licentious. Even those who were careless as to the great truths which
the Polynesians had to learn, must feel, upon reflection, that merely to
unteach the brutal and defiling lesson of ages of darkness was to confer
a priceless blessing. Every prejudice should surely be in favour of the
men who have by general conf