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literature, a work which, in this respect, will meet the expectations of all who consult a dictionary, so entirely as the one which has drawn forth these comments. In this feature of the work, as we have seen, it will bear the test of the severest scrutiny. In respect to the other uses of a dictionary, as a guide to

etymology, orthography, pronunciation, &c. we believe it may be relied on with equal confidence. As, however, the public is the final arbiter in this case, we will not assume to forestall its decision, though we doubt not what it will be, in regard to the entire character of this great work.

MISSIONARY OPERATIONS IN POLYNESIA.*

"It may be remarked here that travelers who visit missionary establishments sometimes contribute to existing errors. If they write in favor of them, they wish to do it to some purpose-they wish, of course, to be popular, in an age which asks for new and exciting matter from the press. Hence we have seen books professing to give the state of things at the Society, Sandwich, and even Marquesas Islands, written in a style of extravagance, adapted rather to gratify than to inform the reader. There are other travelers who fall into the other extreme. It is a point with them to show that the missionary enterprise does no good; that it impoverishes and depopulates the Islands, and that the natives who survive its pestilential influence are made more idle, filthy and vicious. The reader needs not to be informed that it is an old usage among men to comfort one's conscience by an effort to lay its guilt on the back of another. Neither does the public, we presume, need to be informed that if any one goes down into Egypt after the corn of scandal-the sins of missionaries-he will find the stewards of the granaries on board his craft before he can anchor, and the sack filled, and the money also returned in the sack's mouth-at so cheap a rate do they supply the wants of their brethren."-Hawaiian Spectator, Vol. i, p. 99.

EVER since the day when Vasco Nugnez de Balboa, in 1513, ascended the mountain height from which he beheld the wide waste of waters till then unknown to Europeans, and the year 1520, when Magalhanes discovered the straits which bear his name, the Pacific has been a broad field for the enterprise and the sympathies of the civilized world. With its waters laving the pole itself, and anon sweeping along the untrodden shores or the densely peopled strands of two continents, now crystallizing into icy fields or melting beneath a tropical sun-and nestling in its bosom ten thousand islands of every size and form, bearing a numerous population of many climes, it has gradually become more and more known to the people of the old worlds, and they behold in the revelation of

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these new members of the human family, another volume of that unwritten Providence which will yet bring all men into a common brotherhood of interest and of destiny.

The progress of discovery was slow for many ages. Occasionally a navigator commissioned by the courts of Madrid or of Lisbon, ventured across the desert of waters, making known to the world a dim and uncertain narrative of adventure some where within a score of degrees near the scenes so vaguely described. Tasman, the Dutch navigator, discovered the Tonga or Friendly Islands in 1643, Alvaro Mendano discovered the Marquesas in 1595, Pedro Fernandez de Quiros visited an island supposed to be Tahiti, on the 10th February, 1606. But comparatively few of the other islands were known until toward the close of the last century, when Wallis, on the 19th June, 1767, anchored at Tahiti, and gave an impetus to the

maritime discovery so speedily and brilliantly followed up by La Perouse, De Bougainville, Cook, Bligh, Vancouver, and others. The narratives of these explorers were filled with astonishing and intensely interesting details concerning the islands, their climate, productions, natural history, and particularly their inhabitants. They painted the islands in such glowing colors as led the people of the civilized world to believe, that at last, in these far off isles, man had been found surrounded with all the necessary natural and phys ical enjoyments and sources of happiness. The refined ideas of delicacy and propriety entertained by all the mildness of disposition, the openness of character, the generosity and hospitality they manifested to foreigners, their affectionate regard for each other, their filial virtues, and a thousand other excellences, combined with the natural scenery, to make these isles the very gardens of terrestrial happiness.

These attractive descriptions of Polynesian character and life, how ever, are in a great measure qualified by the existence of manners and customs which cast a shade upon the fairer portions of the picture. Invest, if you will, the character of the child of nature with all that may be found lovely and joyous in the uncultivated soul-weave round him garlands of flowers culled from the fondest imaginings and most genial emotions of the refined beholder enrobe him voluptuously in the fairest gossamer ever wrought into poetry-yet, after all, the whole truth will not be told. He may be nursed in a paradise of physical enjoy ment, he may possess the largest liberty, he may sport with the waves, grapple with the monsters of the deep, and become a fit subject for a legend or a myth-but the superficial admiration of his visitor will never exalt his condition so as to hide the real deformity of his soul. Some travelers have exper led their

powers of description in representing the happiness of the Polynesians when first discovered by Europeans, and in some of the least frequented isles at the present day; but these people were in fact the slaves of fear, the victims of debasing superstitions, and of demoralizing rites and customs which originated in their native Po.*

Liberty is essential to the development of man's moral being, but there can be no liberty where the soul is debased with the bondage of fear-where the foundation of the moral life rests upon terror inspired by a belief in the power and government of Akuas,† to whom are ascribed the characters of the Polynesian divinities. The barbarian possesses a certain kind of personal independence-but for this independence he surrenders liberty of thought and freedom of the soul, which are laid down at the feet of some monstrous divinity, and sacrificed on the altar of some dark and overwhelming superstition. The influence of religious belief upon national and individual life is too pow. erful not to be obeyed-and hence it has come to be established as a true principle of philosophy, that a nation will be as its religious belief. History teaches it by example. The refined pagans of Rome, and Greece, and Egypt, entered their temples and offered sacrifices to gods of war, and blood, and lust, and wrongand Roman character is written, if no where else, in the profane and abominable paintings and statuary of a Herculaneum and a Pompeii. The Polynesian nations, removed to the farther extreme, only equal in the vileness of their legends, the impurity of their lives, and the inhumanity of their offerings on the misshapen altar of a Tahitian heiau, the splendor of the sacrifices in the costly and magnificent temples of Jupiter and Minerva.

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There is no picture of human life so well calculated to deceive, as that which clothes in beauty the life of "the child of nature." Some of the more recent travelers have been singular enough even at this day to renew the praises of uncivilized life -and with a superficiality of judgment as marked as their limited acquaintance with facts, have sought to present it as more desirable than the condition of a civilized being. But when viewed in the light of truth, the simplicity, and innocence, and purity, and gentleness of these artless people, gives way to the stern reality, that human nature unsanctified by the almighty power of renew ing grace, is the same whether in the palmy groves of the Orient, or fanned by the spring breezes of delicious climes,-rocked into shape and expression on the bosom of the Pacific, or cherished in the sumptu ous courts of Paris or Pekin, polished in the palace of the Cæsars, or rough-born on the shores of the Orange river or Gaboon. The characteristics of paganism are alike in all ages and in every place-murders, infanticide, lust, revenge, war, oppression, and wrong-summed up in the close of the first chapter of Paul to the Romans. Having" changed the truth of God into a lie," they were "filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents; without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful; who knowing the judgment of God, (that they which commit such things are worthy of death,) not only do the same, but have pleas ure in them that do them." This is a faithful picture of the primitive condition of the people whose history and destiny we are considering.

While we are delighted with the lovely picture of the material world around them, and the sources of physical enjoyment, an overwhelming interest attaches to the questions concerning their moral and intellectual character. The early missionaries who reached Tahiti in 1797, were very favorably impressed with the people-but a residence of a short time gave them a much better acquaintance with the dark reality, than all the gentle and winning descriptions of their predecessors.

Soon after the publication of the narratives of Cook and others, the attention of British Christians was turned to the subject of enlightening the heathen, and after the preliminaries necessary to such a step, the London Missionary Society was organized, and sent to Tahiti, the Friendly Islands, and the Marquesas, a band of missionaries. They reached Matavai Bay, March 6th, 1797, and thus was commenced the enterprise which has been productive of such marked results in that portion of the globe. The nature of the work, the character of the laborers, and the effects of their zeal and devotion, have been and ought to be the subject of frequent discussion.

In making an estimate of the benefits of civilization and Christianity in the South Seas, we are not to look at Polynesian society as it is. We are not to take the ignorant, vicious, debased, and indolent tribes-whose fathers but yesterday were engaged in bloody contests, offering human sacrifices, murdering their children, and submitting in horrible bondage to the fear of senseless and monstrous divinities, and behold in the first loosenings of these foundations of heathen life, a full exhibition of the power of the Christian religion. To expect general refinement in one age, to look for intelligence and purity of sentiment and life in the course of a single generation, would be to expect the subversion of the

laws of man's being, the performance of a miracle, or the creation of a new moral constitution.

The latest writer on Polynesia, is the author of the work named at the head of this article. This is the second narrative from his pen, Omoo having been preceded by "Typee: a Residence in the Marquesas." Of the author or his works we design not now to inform our readers, further than they have reference to the practical operations of the missionary enterprise in Polynesia.

We do not make an extended review of these publications because they are entitled to a serious confutation; -but regarding them as expressive of the feelings and opinions of a large class of navigators, merchants, and others, and as affording a renewed occasion for presenting facts not generally known, we have attempted an examination of their truth concerning the past and present efforts to civilize and christianize the Polynesians.

Without farther introduction, we remark generally that the testimony of Mr. Melville, were his statements consistent with fact, is sufficient to condemn the missionary work in the South Seas. The ignorance, inefficiency, and incompetency of the laborers their interference in political affairs, their bigotry, intolerance and inhospitality, all unite to furnish our author with matter for frequent invective, or indignant appeal.

We shall present the first thing worthy of notice in which the missionaries are introduced, and accompany Mr. Melville on his adventures as far as our space, or the patience of our readers will permit.

On page 87, in speaking of the people of the Coral or Paumotu Islands, we are told that

"Nominally, many of these people are now Christians; and, through the political influence of their instructors, NO DOUBT, a short time since, came under the allegiance of Pomare, the Queen of Tahiti, with which island they always carried on considerable intercourse."

When men go abroad into the world they should be prepared to observe, and when they return they should at least make themselves acquainted with their subject before they attempt to inform their countrymen. "Rope-yarn" may do very well in the forecastle, or during the hours of the night-watch, but when it is spun out in the pages of a book with reiterated protestations of correctness, and "the author's peculiar opportunities for acquiring correct information," it becomes quite another affair; and then the follies and inaccuracies of a mere romancer, otherwise unworthy of notice, require the juxtaposition of truth. There are two points in this brief passage worthy of note. 1. That the missionaries brought the islands under the Tahitian rule, and 2. The absence of any statement showing the beneficial effects of Christianity among them.

The Paumotu, Coral, or Pearl Islands, called also the Dangerous Archipelago, stretches over several degrees of latitude and longitude, crosses the meridian of Tahiti, within from five to ten degrees of longitude of the latter island. They have for a long time maintained commercial intercourse with the Society Islands, and in the reign of Pomare I, Tomatiti of the Paumotu group, attempted to overrun Tahiti. Pomare sent him a written letter, which led to a peace. At a period somewhat later, after Pomare II. had embraced the Christian religion, and reports of the change had reached the Coral Islands, some of the natives passed over to Tahiti to witness the wonderful revolution. When Mr. Ellis built his printing office at Afareaitu, Eimeo,† 1817, the body-guard of Pomare was composed of Paumotuans, in preference to his own subjects. The instructors of the simple islanders have used as little

* Wilkes, i, 343. iii, 192.

Ellis, Polynesian Researches, ii, 165;

political influence in this case as in many others in which they have been compelled to play a conspicuous part.

Though Mr. Melville has much to say in many places respecting the character and labors of the missionaries, he omits here to notice the changes in the social condition of the Paumotuans, effected by the introduction of Christianity. Capt. Wilkes, who will doubtless be regarded as an impartial witness, will give us a few brief facts in illustration.

"Nothing could be more striking than the difference that prevailed between these natives and those of the Disappointment Islands, which we had just left. The half-civilization of the natives of Raraka, was very marked, and it appeared as though we had issued out of darkness into light. They showed a modest disposition and gave us a hearty welcome. We were not long at a loss to what to ascribe it; the missionary had been at work here, and his exertions had been based upon a firm foundation; the savage had been changed to a reasonable creature. *** If the missionaries had effected nothing else, [the security of seamen,] they would deserve the thanks of all those who roam over this wide ocean, and incur its many unknown and hidden dan

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At Aurora Island, Capt. Wilkes again saw printed copies of the Scriptures, and many of the people could "read and write well."

"No spears, clubs, or warlike instruments were to be seen, and when I asked for them as matters of curiosity, they said they had no arms except two muskets, which were pointed out to me, hanging up under the eaves of the house. The native missionary, a man about fifty years of age, told me that in times past they had all war,' but now all

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was peace. I was desirous of knowing to what he imputed the change, and he readily answered, Mittionari, mai-tai, mai-tai,' (missionary, good, good.)"+

At Anaa or Chain Island, the like happy change was visible. The inhabitants, formerly cannibals, have become Christians, and within twenty-five years.

"Since the residence of the missionaries they have imbibed better tastes; and the Christian influence has made them more peaceful."

The invasion of Tahiti by the French, and the Roman Priests, is made the subject of running comment through several chapters.

The intrusion of Romanists into the Hawaiian, Georgian, and Society Islands, together with the "intolerance," "proscription," "bigotry," and "inhospitable treatment," maintained towards them by the Protestant missionaries, are occasions of frequent indignation and holy repudiation with the Belcher school, of which we may find many disciples.

The prominent principle which led to the rejection of the Romanists is obvious to a thinking mind. The half-refined idolaters see in the image of the Virgin, the crucifix, the paintings, the wafer, and the beads, only the elements of a bap. tized idolatry.

Much as we may

deplore their intellectual incapacity to discriminate here, it does not modify or change the fact. That they are not alone to be condemned for this obliquity, is evident from the history of the world.

A Hindoo Brahmin in giving his reasons for not embracing Romanism, makes the following compari

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