in
Erskine, of HMS _Havannah_, has done so in a very interesting work on
the `Islands of the Pacific' Captain Wilkes, of the United States navy,
in his `Voyages round the World,' speaks most favourably of the result
of missionary enterprise; and so indeed do many other naval officers of
both nations. I myself must be considered as an impartial witness to
the magnitude of the work which has resulted from the labours of the
agents of the various societies which have sent the gospel of peace to
the islands of these seas. On being rescued from more than death by
your uncle I was received back as a returned prodigal by my family, and
was enabled to pursue a course of studies which would fit me for the
work to which I had resolved to devote myself. My father, when he
consented to my wishes, made the proviso, however, that I should not
connect myself with any religious body for the purpose, or act as the
agent of any missionary society, but that I should go forth by myself,
relying on the funds which he would place at my disposal. While he
lived he supported me liberally, enabling me to marry and to bring out a
wife to be the sharer of my toils, and on his death he left me an income
which has been sufficient, with that derived by my own labours, for all
my wants. I have thus been able, by means of the little vessel I spoke
of, to move about among the islands as I judged best, and often to
render assistance to brother ministers of various denominations, whose
work had become too great for their strength. I do not speak of the
mode of proceeding I adopted, to induce others to follow in the same
course, but simply to explain how it is that you find me unattached to
any missionary society, and yet acquainted with the transactions of all
those labouring in this part of the world. I propose, my young friend,
that you may the more clearly understand the present spiritual condition
of these Pacific isles, to give you a brief sketch of what I consider
the four great prominent events which have taken place connected with
them, and almost immediately, I may say, under my own eye--events of
importance unspeakable, as marking the signal overthrow of Satan's
power. First, the declaration by the king of Tahiti, one of the
Georgian Islands, of his conviction of the truth of Christianity, and of
his desire to become a servant of the true God, on the 12th June, 1812,
just fifteen years after the arrival of the missionaries in that group,