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them; and then inquired whether they wished them to come, and if any did, whether they would receive them kindly and be their friends? to which "Ae! Ae" burst from them all in much animation, followed by "Motaki, motaki," "good, good."

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Haapé then said, "It is with the king Moana:" to which the little fellow at once replied, "So let it be; it is good, very good;" Taua adding, "When they come, some of them must live with me at Taioa. I will give them land and build a large house for them." I told him, they would gladly live in his valley, if he and his people would cast away their idols, and believe in and worship Jehovah the only true God. To which he answered, "I know Jehovah is a mighty God. I have heard of him from Tahiti, where the people have burned their images and taken him for their God, and it might be well for us to do the same;" adding, "Jehovah is a greater God than any of ours, for he is the God of thunder and lightning;" taking this impression, as I discovered, from the flash and report of cannon, which they consider to be essentially lightning and thunder. He said, whenever it thundered at the island, they knew that a ship was approaching, and that Jehovah caused the thunder to apprise them of it.'- Vol. I. pp. 282, 3.

The Vincennes remained a fortnight at the Washington Islands, and then sailed for Tahiti, distant 700 miles, and on the fifth day anchored in Matavia Bay.

Having recently reviewed so much at length Mr. Montgo mery's delightful narrative of the Visit of the Deputation from the London Missionary Society to the Tahitian Islands, we must refrain from going again over the same ground with the present Writer, although his information, being of later date, will be found highly valuable and interesting. For a full account of the original state and present condition, laws, and customs of the Islands, Mr. Stewart refers his readers to the "Polynesian Researches" of his beloved friend Ellis,' in which these are portrayed with much talent, perfect candour, and 'minute correctness.' From the Tahitian Islands, the Vincennes sailed for Hawaii, which they reached after a passage of eighteen days. Here, Mr. Stewart found himself amid scenes familiar and endeared to recollection; but, at the state of advancement which every thing presented, he was himself not less surprised than the officers of the Corvette, notwithstanding that four years only had elapsed since he left the island. The reports given of the people by the Missionaries and by visiters, have by no means, he says, kept pace with the rapid strides which they are making in civilization and refinement. For details, we must refer our readers to Mr. Stewart's own narrative; and in his pages, they will find a complete explanation of the true source and motives of the malignant calumnies which have been propagated in this country with regard to the Mission and the people of Hawaii. We must make room for the following clear statements and decisive remarks upon this subject.

The station of post-captain in the royal and imperial navies of their sovereigns, is in itself an ægis to the honour of Beechey and Von Kotzebue, and I am far from believing, that the statements they have given are the fabrications of their own minds. Unhappily, there is too little necessity for any visiter at the islands thus to task his inventive powers: an abundance of matter of this description, already manufactured, is there kept in constant store, with tongues ready to retail it; and I doubt not those gentlemen can give the names of the individuals from whom they received all they have rehearsed.

I impeach not their veracity. But unfortunately for them, the attitude in which they have placed themselves, by their publications, is such, that charity herself cannot throw round them a shield, which, in addition to a defence of their honour as gentlemen, will screen their reputation as trustworthy reporters to the world, of the physiology, condition, and prospects of the people they have visited in traversing the globe. A defence of their candour can only be sustained by the sacrifice of the acuteness of their observation, and the faithfulness of their research.

If their accounts of the Sandwich Islands were written in full probity of heart, they must plead guilty to the charge of an error in judgement, and of having become dupes to the arts and misrepresentations of others, in utter neglect of the facilities for personal observation by which they were surrounded. To every intelligent visiter at the same place, it must be self-evident, that, instead of filling their note-books with facts passing before them, they caught with eagerness, from strongly prejudiced and ill-disposed men, recitals and hearsays, in direct opposition to them.

It is not with unguarded pen that I advance this opinion. I have myself had a demonstration of the fact, and can present evidence, both incidental and direct, in support of it, furnished by those who

could have no motive to deceive.

A short time previous to my departure from the islands in 1825, I called one morning at the residence of an American merchant, who had the hour before returned to Honolulu, from a visit of a day or two at a place on the western side of Oahu, twenty-five or thirty miles distant. In the course of the conversation which ensued, he expressed great anxiety for the people inhabiting the sections of country through which he had passed, stating, equally to my surprise and regret, that they must in a very short time be in a state of perfect famine, from having been obliged by the chiefs to go into the mountains to cut timber for a new chapel, lately erected at Honolulu, to the neglect of their plantations, till all the growth on them had perished from want of irrigation and other attention: adding, that from this cause, the whole region presented a most melancholy spectacle.

I had no reason to doubt the truth of the report. I knew nothing myself of that part of the island, and was aware that the inhabitants had recently been occupied in procuring timber for the chapel; having myself, on one morning within a few weeks preceding, counted 2,200 men bearing it into town, in one uninterrupted procession, while some 800 or 1,000 others followed during the day. But their appearance was not that of an oppressed and famishing people; for they came evidently in high spirits and joy, with hands and hearts ready to their

work, which would scarce have been the case if, on their way, they had beheld their plantations perishing, and their crops ruined in consequence of their absence.

Two gentlemen of the mission arrived at Honolulu, the same day of this conversation, from the Leeward Islands. Not having heard the cry of "Sail ho!" among the natives, I expressed my surprise on meeting them, at their getting into the harbour without being discovered; and, in explanation, learned that they had landed in the vessel in which they left Tauai, on the western side of the island, at the and had come on foot over the same same place visited by Mr. ground which he had travelled. It occurred to me at once, without informing my friends of the particular reason for the inquiry, to ask what the appearance of the country and plantations in that direction were? They answered, that the cultivated parts were in luxuriant and beautiful growth; so much so, that they had repeatedly on the way made the evidence of industry, and the fine order in the farms, the subject of remark! I then informed them of the report of Mr. which they thought so utterly impossible as to believe me in jest, till assured of the contrary.

Captain Beechey's visit at Oahu occurred some few months after this; and his principal report of the condition of the people is, that they were in a state approaching to utter famine, from habits of indolence induced by the instruction and influence of the missionaries; that they have been taught, that to attend church seven times a day, was all that was necessary for them; and that a native had told him, (in what language and by whose interpretation?) that it was "better to pray than to work;" and the consequence was, that the plantations were going to ruin, and provisions so scarce, that the king, only a few days before, had been obliged to send to the American consul to beg a piece of bread!

Such is the report of Captain Beechey; while his own ship, and all other vessels in port, were receiving from the native market every refreshment, both animal and vegetable, that they needed or desired. The numerous foreigners resident at Honolulu were also living in abundance on the same resources; and a walk of fifteen minutes in the rear of the town, and the ride of an hour in almost any direction, would have shewn him thousands and thousands of acres of cultivated growth, as rich and exuberant as any ever known since the first discovery of the islands! From whence, then, I would ask, did From assertions, no doubt, as he gain his evidence of famine? to me: and where was the well founded, as that made by Mr. acute observation of the intelligent and scientific voyager?-brooding, it is probable, in total ignorance of the beautiful and fertile valleys around, over the dusty and sunburnt plain east of the port, which he had been told was once covered with flourishing plantations; without the addition, however, of the time when a period "to which the memory" of foreign visitors at least "runneth not contrary!"

A few weeks only intervened between the visit of Captain Jones, of the U. S. ship Peacock, and that of Captain Beechey; yet Captain Jones, whatever he may have heard, saw no evidence of a famine past or to come. On the contrary, for three months he beheld a market

daily filled with the productions of the country, in a quantity sufficient for the refreshment of the Peacock and numerous other vessels in the harbour, during the whole period, and at a price more reasonable than at any other port visited by him in the Pacific. In place of a threatened famine from neglect of cultivation, there are the most satisfactory statistical data on record, to shew, that for years previous to the visit of Captain Beechey to the present time, the increase in vegetable and animal supplies has been more than proportionate to the increase in the number of ships frequenting the groupe.'

Mr. Bingham is the subject of special obloquy in the work of Von Kotzebue; and I should be doing injustice to my heart, not to present in this place my own estimate of his character.

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That he is a man of superior intellect, of good education, and of much general and practical knowledge, all acquainted with him must admit, while those who know him best, are equally aware of the benevolence and kindness of his heart. His evil, in the eyes of his calumniators, can only be, an unreserved devotion of all his powers to the enterprise in which he is engaged-the entire conversion, moral renovation, and eternal good of the islanders. For the achievement of this, he spares himself neither by day nor by night, but, in reference to it, is "instant in season and out of season;" and, after a series of exhausting labours from the rising to the setting of every sun, trims the midnight lamp over the construction of books for the schools, and translations from the scriptures for the habitations and closets of the people. He has no policy in his measures not approved by all his associates, and exerts no influence over the chiefs and people differing from that of any other missionary, except such as may arise from a seniority of residence and the ties of long attachment.

Mr. Bingham, however, is not the only individual misrepresented. From the notices of this voyager, the whole of the missionaries are to be regarded as an ignorant and vulgar set of men, unfitted to instruct even the natives in the most common arts. They do not claim for themselves, nor would I claim for them, the name and reputation of accomplished scholars; nor do they affect the wisdom of the philosopher and devotee to science: but all the ordained ministers of their company (by far the greater number in the whole) have received regular, classical, and collegiate educations, and are as well informed, on most subjects, as persons of their profession in any country. They are accurate and intelligent observers of the phenomena occasionally taking place around them, and have furnished articles in such cases, that have been thought worthy the notice of men well known in the circles of science and letters. For amusement and useful information, they have, when on the shore, measured the altitudes of the mountains; and again, when on the summits of these, they have taken the bearings of the points of the islands, and from the data, projected maps more accurate than any previously drawn; and in their various tours for purposes connected with the mission, have furnished to correspondents, descriptions of scenery, and notices of the habits and condition of the people, which for beauty and interest will compare with the writings of travellers of reputation.

Such qualifications of mind and of education must at least save 3 L

VOL. VI.-N.S.

them from contempt. But, even were they less favoured in this respect than they are, their principles, their personal example, their influence, and their aim, are such that, whatever the estimate now placed upon them may be, I am persuaded, that at last they will be accounted in the number of those of whom "the world was not worthy;" and the drapery which M. Von Kotzebue has cast around me, as standing in his work in relievo to such men, instead of a mantle of kindness, must ever be esteemed by me a BADGE OF REPROACH.' Vol. II. pp. 201-209.

We have left ourselves no space for further extract or analysis; and must only add, that, independently of the higher interest attaching to these Letters from the character and office of the Writer, we have seldom met with a more entertaining and delightful work.

Art. VII.---Illustrations of the Annuals.

WE have reserved for distinct notice, the Illustrations to the Annuals reviewed in our present and the preceding

Numbers.

Our readers, many of them at least, would think our situation an enviable one, were they to see us at the present moment, surrounded with gems of art and flowers of poesy. We heartily wish that we could change places with any who may thus feel; and we would gladly transfer our task, pleasant though in some respects it be, to any friend who may be somewhat of an adept in the fashionable phraseology of virtu, and who may be gifted with an amiable disposition to be pleased, he knows not why, ' and cares not wherefore.' In truth, we must plead guilty to a rather superabundant share of fastidiousness in all matters connected with art: our studies have lain among the works of the ' giants of old,' the masters of a day when criticism was shrewd, exigent, and rough. We are all pretenders now, and little more: every body knows enough of the arts to talk about them, and no one has gone deep enough for sound judgement. There are thousands and tens of thousands who fancy that these parallelograms of silk and morocco, contain within their gilt-edged lamina the most brilliant illustrations of science and skill; that they exhaust the subject; and they are to be treasured up for ever with the miracles of Albert and the immortalities of Marc Antonio. Be it so we shall not contradict the good-natured, nor try to raise our voices above the shout of the million: on the contrary, we shall lay aside our buckram suits,' slide into our nightgown and slippers, and honestly, as well as courteously, say of the elegancies which glitter on our table, that they are, on the whole, delightful productions; that, in not a few instances,

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