iests of the Church of Rome to
counteract the efforts of the missionaries. You know what has been done
at Tahiti. You hear from Captain Erskine what is doing at Tonga and
Fiji. The same attempts are being made at Samoa and elsewhere, wherever
English missionaries have pioneered the way, and there are good
harbours, but not otherwise. This almost looks as if their designs are
political as well as religious, and that the object of those who send
them is to establish French posts across the Pacific, so that in time of
war they may have coaling stations and harbours of refuge in every
direction. As they have by means of these priests a party in each
group, they will never want an excuse for interfering in the affairs of
the islands whenever they may have occasion to do so.

"But I must tell you more of many other islands brought under Christian
instruction. Savage Island offers a notable example of what can be done
in a short time. Captain Cook gave it that name, on account of the
savage appearance of the inhabitants. When Williams first visited them
in 1830, they appeared to be in no way improved. Several at length were
induced to visit Samoa, where at the training college they gained so
sound a knowledge of Christianity, that in 1846 two of them were well
fitted to impart it to their long-benighted countrymen. They narrowly,
however, escaped with their lives, and some time elapsed before they
could gain the confidence of those they came to instruct. When visited
by the Reverend A Murray in 1852, about two hundred converts had been
made, and many others had learned to look at the teachers with
affection. Unhappily that very year several of the natives were killed
by the crew of a man-of-war which had called off the island, because one
of them had stolen a carpenter's tool, and among them was the chief who
had protected the missionaries on first landing. Still they were
already too well instructed to wish to return evil for evil, and with
simplicity complained that the punishment was rather severe, especially
as the innocent suffered, though not altogether undeserved. From this
time forward, under their native teachers, the people made great
progress in their knowledge of religious truth, and so rapidly were
numbers added to the Church, that in a few years not a heathen remained
on the island. It was not indeed till quite lately that an English
missionary was placed on the island, and he found five large churc