, self-sacrifice, and patient service have equalled the earnest
men of other climes.

[Illustration: HOUSE OF THE REV. JOHN WILLIAMS, RAIATEA.]

All over the southern groups of Polynesia, this is the work which
missionaries have been doing. This is the influence which they have
exercised, and these are the fruits of their devoted toil. It is not
merely Admiral FITZROY, and Captain ERSKINE, and Admiral WILKES, who
testify to the reality of such results; but to these Christian
islands, where sailors were once afraid to land, hundreds of whalers
run gladly every year to get the refreshment which their hard toil
renders so grateful. From icebergs and boundless seas, and heavy
gales of wind; from the exciting chase, the capture, the boiling down
of their huge prey; and from all the filthy, weary work of whaling
life, they now run north to New Zealand and Samoa, to Tahiti and
Rarotonga; not only to refit their vessels and to replace their
broken gear, but to buy fresh meat and vegetables and coffee; to get
medicine for their sick; to revel in oranges, plantains and
water-melons; to feast the eye on green mountains and cultured
valleys; to walk among white cottages and flower gardens and groves
of palms; to attend Sabbath services, and be reminded of their
Christian training and their Christian homes. Where have unaided men,
however wise, produced a moral change like this? With us the GOSPEL
alone has done it, and to GOD we give all the praise.

IX.--SOUTH AFRICA.

In the course of their revision, the Directors found that the SOUTH
AFRICA Mission needed at their hands an unusual amount of attention
and care. Owing to peculiar circumstances, it had been to a
considerable extent lost sight of for several years. At the outset
of the inquiry, several questions of vital importance presented
themselves for settlement. While the mission numbered on its staff
thirty-five European missionaries, no less than twenty-one of these
brethren were labouring in the christianized portions of the colony;
where the native population has grown thinner rather than more
numerous; and where the ministers and missionaries of other
Societies have considerably increased. Only fourteen of the
Society's missionaries were labouring in the heathen territories,
in Kafirland and among the Bechuana tribes.

The six mission estates, termed INSTITUTIONS, which for a series of
years proved a valuable refuge to the Hottentot labourers, and
trained t