nsition state' of Polynesia. One of the chief reasons why people at
home are incredulous as to the present condition of these islands is,
that they are ignorant of the events which have occurred, and of the
nature of the instrumentality which has been employed. They say that
man could not have done it, and, therefore, that it cannot have been
done. They are right in saying that man could not have done it, but it
has been done by the Holy Spirit of God working by means of human
agency; weak things have indeed been employed to confound the strong."

I was seated with Mr Bent and his daughter at our evening meal--the
labours of the day being over--enjoying the cool sea breeze, which
blowing through the room afforded us that strength and refreshment which
our frames, exhausted by the heat, greatly required. I assured him how
thankful I should be to have the account he offered, confessing that
except with respect to the islands at which we had touched, and where I
could judge of the changed state of the people, I was still very
ignorant of the condition of the principal part of the inhabitants of
Polynesia. Indeed, I owned, that had I believed the accounts given in
two works we had on board, I should have supposed that the inhabitants
had rather suffered than benefited by the advent of missionaries among
them, and that from being light-hearted, happy beings, they had become
morose, discontented, and inhospitable. I mentioned Kotzebue's "Voyage
round the World," in which work the author abuses the missionaries in
unmeasured terms, and another by a Mr Beale, the surgeon of a South-Sea
whaler, who, in a book full of valuable descriptions of whales, and the
mode of catching them, loses no opportunity of showing his dislike to
missionaries, and the principles they have inculcated on their native
converts.

"Yes, indeed," said Mr Bent; "I might mention several other works of a
similar character, which, I believe, have prevented many persons from
supporting missions to these seas, or served as an excuse to them for
not doing so; but I also have many works written by men of high
standing, and thoroughly unprejudiced as witnesses, who do full justice
to the labours of my missionary brethren, or rather, I would say, to the
results which by their instrumentality have been produced. The Hon.
Captain Keppel (now Admiral Yelverton), of HMS _Meander_, who visited
these islands in 1850, will, I know, speak in favourable terms. Capta