habitants of which had derived great advantage from their instructions, he was asked whether he would receive an individual, properly recommended, who, it was hoped, would prove a blessing to him and his people. The king listened with great attention, and replied by saying, that the persons who were formerly sent endeavoured to instruct him and his people, but they would not be taught; when the preachers, finding all their efforts ineffectual, ceased to make them, and at length became as bad as themselves. As to receiving the new teacher, he said he would speak his sentiments freely and not deceive any one. If he were placed at Vavaoo, he would protect him, but he would neither embrace Christianity himself, nor allow his people to become converts; on the contrary, he declared he would put to death the first person, man or woman, who should desert the ancient belief. The missionaries did not deem it proper to argue the point of expediency with this imperious chieftain, but contented themselves with expressing their regret that he should so resolutely oppose the reception of so great a blessing.

They found, indeed, upon inquiry, that the conduct of Finou had in most cases accorded too exactly with his fearful menaces. Many of the inhabitants of Vavaoo, including some of the chiefs, had left that island and proceeded to Lefooga, in order to enjoy the advantages of evangelical instruction. In the latter place, they were found in a state of comparative poverty and degradation; a change of circumstances to which they willingly submitted rather than renounce the benefits of Christianity. Notwithstanding these discouragements, it was gratifying to learn, that nearly a hundred persons had become candidates for the ordinance of baptism, and were under a course of instruction preparatory to its administration. Many others had made known their intention of relinquishing idolatry, and of taking their place among the professors of the gospel, though, under the government of a ruler so decidedly opposed to any change of faith,

they found it necessary to proceed with the utmost circumspection.

After the murder and expulsion of the missionaries who had been landed by the Duff at Tongataboo, the pastoral care of the few converts on that island seems to have been exercised by a native teacher. At a later

period, some of the Wesleyan brethren debarked on the coast, whom the people invited to labour among them, not being aware of any distinction of sects or denominations; hence when the author of the Enterprises arrived at the Friendly group, he found that the members of the London Society had been superseded by evangelists of another class, whose forms, and perhaps their principles, were somewhat different. It is said, that when they entered upon their duties, they saw not only a comfortable station prepared for them, but also a commodious chapel, with three or four hundred persons desirous to receive their instructions; a state of things resulting almost entirely from the exertions of a converted pagan, who zealously communicated to his idolatrous neighbours the precious knowledge which he had received from the unfortunate brethren who had been betrayed by Morgan. As the Wesleyans were in possession of the Tonga Archipelago, it was arranged that they should continue to occupy it as their appropriate field: and as the Fijees, whose language and political institutions are similar, were at no great distance, it was farther agreed that their ministerial cares should be extended to both these provinces.

Good reasons are assigned for this distribution of islands, as well as for the separation of missionaries, who, though their object was one, proceeded by different paths towards the attainment of it. The natives, who would at once have perceived a difference in the modes of worship, must have had their attention divided, and their notions obscured. Being naturally of an inquisitive disposition, they would, without doubt, have demanded a reason for every little deviation from the usual method; and the

explanations first from one side and then from the other, would almost necessarily have led to evils greatly to be deplored in an infant society of believers. There would, moreover, have been another inconvenience in the case now under consideration, had both sects resolved to pursue their labours in common, for the Wesleyans, in their elementary books for the education of their converts, had adopted a different alphabet and orthography.*

The missionaries have had an opportunity of confirming the opinion held by others, that the soil of Tongataboo is very rich, and that large tracts of land were formerly under cultivation. Groves of the banana and mountain plantain every where meet the eye. The fruit of these trees forms an important part of the food of all the Friendly Islanders; and the Tongatabooans surpass most of their neighbours in the cultivation of it. But the repeated civil wars to which allusion has been made, by diminishing the number of the inhabitants, were followed by the abandonment of several fine districts, now with

Mr Williams states, that the Wesleyans pursued the plan of giving christian names to all whom they baptized. "The queen they call Mary Tupou, and the king Jeremiah Tupou. The American missionaries at the Sandwich Islands and the Church missionaries of New Zealand have done the same. This appears to us the introduction of a new feature into the Polynesian language, which its genius does not admit, and to which there is nothing analogous. It may be said, that many of the natives have two names, as Tupou-totai of Tongataboo, Makeanui of Rarotonga, and a variety of others. But these are mere appendages to the name descriptive of the office or occupation of the individual: totai added to Tupou's name is literally the sailor; nui to Makea is literally the great, answering to the appellations Necho and Epiphanes, which were appended to the names of Pharaoh, Antiochus, and others. Now we should not think of prefixing a christian name to that of Pharaoh, and calling him Jeremiah Pharaoh, or to that of Cleopatra, and calling her Elizabeth Cleopatra, as the missionaries to whom I have referred have done. There is also a native dignity in the name itself, which is lost when thus associated; and as the idiom of this language will not admit such an incongruous combination of terms, I do sincerely hope that all the missionaries will use every effort to transmit it to posterity pure, simple, and beautiful as they found it."-Narrative of Missionary Enterprises, p. 307.

out either occupants or culture. Should the gospel be finally established, peace will soon extend its benign influence from shore to shore; the population will rapidly increase; and the fertile fields, now lying waste, will once more display abundant crops to the eyes of an innocent peasantry.

It is quite unnecessary to fatigue the attention of the reader by a minute description of Eooa, Anamooka, or any other inferior member of the group. They are known to have been discovered by Tasman, and visited by our great navigator, whose description of them contains all that is deserving of notice as to their climate and productions. Of the former isle, he remarks, that it resembles Tongataboo, but exceeds it in respect of salubrity, pleasantness of situation, and goodness of fresh water.*

Greater attention might be claimed for the Fijees, were we equally well acquainted with the manners and political constitution of the inhabitants, who are obviously of a race quite distinct from the natives of the Friendly and Society Islands. They belong to the black tribes who occupy Borneo, New Guinea, the Solomons, New Hebrides, and other groups which stretch between the hundred and tenth degree of east longitude and the prime meridian. In knowledge of some of the arts, and perhaps in general civilisation, they had, when first discovered, outstripped the natives of Tonga, who are represented by voyagers as being at once less ingenious and less warlike. With strong indications of negro ferocity, they combine some of the worst habits which disgrace the whole population of the Southern Pacific, especially the horrible practice of eating their enemies, now abhorred by all the fairer-skinned families of the

* There is a small island called Tofoaa, chiefly remarkable for a volcano, situated near its northern extremity, from which smoke almost constantly issues, and pumice-stones are very frequently thrown. It was visited by Mariner, who found that the crater was about thirty feet in diameter, whence sundry explosions were heard like the noise of water thrown upon burning pitch. Vol. i. p. 207.

windward clusters. They are remarkable, too, for suspicion and vigilance; hence, in the Friendly Islands, the expression is proverbial, to be "toto boto, like the Fijee people," that is, to be possessed of policy and caution in the presence of an enemy. Of their origin, or the period at which they removed to their present habitation, nothing is known; but the old men at Tonga, who pretend not to give any account of the discovery of the islands, assert that their ancestors were accustomed to visit them before the woolly race arrived from the west.

The progress of Christianity has not been rapid among the savages of the Fijee group, whose habits are so entirely alien to the spirit of the gospel. It is true that the Wesleyan missionaries were allowed to form a station at some of the islands under the protection of the local chiefs, who appeared not unwilling that their people should profit by the superior attainments of the white men. Certain individuals who had been converted at Lefooga, invited the brethren to extend the benefits of the gospel to their countrymen; and hence, at various times, small colonies of Christians have hazarded all the dangers, by land and by water, which are found inseparable from such an undertaking. In the year 1836, the reverend W. Cross and David Cargill, with their families, sailed thither from the Hapais, and, arriving at Lakemba, were well received by the reigning sovereign, who encouraged them to enter upon their labours without delay. Nor were they ignorant of the character of the barbarians whom they thus undertook to civilize and enlighten; for one of the teachers resident in the neighbourhood had recently communicated to the public a fearful account of their cruel superstitions. Besides cannibalism, on which he dilates with every expression of disgust, he mentions a practice, nowhere else noticed, of burying individuals alive, who are either tired of life, or no longer fit for it. Persons too old, or too ill to be of any farther service, are the usual victims, though it is sometimes done at the request of those who, from religious motives, are desirous to change this