rticular,
raising their tufted heads in air above the sea of perpetual verdure,
formed a pleasing ornament of the landscape.[35] There were no towns or
villages; most of the houses were built in the plantations, generally
surrounded by trees or ornamental shrubs, whose fragrancy perfumed the
air.[36]

[32] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 411 _sq._

[33] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184, 195, v. 274, 316,
357, 416.

[34] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, iii. 184.

[35] Captain James Cook, _Voyages_, v. 274, 357.

[36] _Id._ iii. 196.

When Captain Cook surveyed this rich and beautiful country, the islands
were and had long been at peace, so that the natives were able to devote
themselves without distraction to the labour of tilling the soil and
providing in other ways for the necessities of life. Unhappily shortly
after his visit to the islands wars broke out among the inhabitants and
continued to rage more or less intermittently for many years. Even the
introduction of Christianity in the early part of the nineteenth
century, far from assuaging the strife, only added bitterness to it by
furnishing a fresh pretext for hostilities, in which apparently the
Christians were sometimes the aggressors with the connivance or even the
encouragement of the missionaries.[37] In consequence cultivation was
neglected and large portions of land were allowed to lie waste.[38]

[37] This is affirmed by the Catholic missionary, Jerome Grange
(_Annales de la Propagation de la Foi_, xvii. (1845) pp. 15
_sqq._), and though he writes with a manifest prejudice against
his rivals the Protestant missionaries, his evidence is
confirmed by Commodore Wilkes, the commander of the United
States Exploring Expedition, who on his visit to Tongataboo
found the Christians and heathens about to go to war with each
other. He attempted to make peace between them, but in vain. The
heathen were ready to accept his overtures, but "it was evident
that King George and his advisers, and, indeed, the whole
Christian party, seemed to be desirous of continuing the war,
either to force the heathen to become Christians, or to carry it
on to extermination, which the number of their warriors made
them believe they had the power to effect. I felt, in addition,
that the missionaries were thwarting my exertions by permitting
warlike preparations during the pending of the