in support of the calumny. As a specimen of all the subjects of discourse mentioned by Mr. Ellis, I will transcribe without selection, or known omission, the texts found in the first hundred pages of his Tour. Speaking of the observance of the first Sabbath on Hawaii, he remarks "Mr. Bishop preached from John iii. 16, God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" "—and endeavoured in the most familiar manner, to set before the people the great love of God in sending his Son to die for sinners, and the necessity of forsaking sin, and believing on him, in order to eternal life. The succeeding passages within the limit mentioned above, are-" This is the day the Lord hath made, we will rejoice and be glad in it."-"Blessed are the eyes which see the things which ye see."-" Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead yet shall he live; and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die."-" We preach unto you, that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein."-" Good and upright is the Lord; therefore will he teach sinners in the way."-" This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners."&c. &c.*

It is then alleged that "according to their (the missionaries) rule, the more time that is spent in preaching, praying, and singing, the better. The least that is required from the half-naked converts of Owhyee, &c. is to attend at church

Mr. Loomis stated to us that Mr. Bingham had preached, in order, on every precept of the Decalogue; and that his discourse on the eighth commandment caused the restoration of several articles of stolen goods.-EDITOR.

five times every day; and on Sundays they are strictly prohibited from cooking any kind of victuals, or even making a fire. Boki was refractory on this point,-protested strongly against a tabu of this rigid nature, and insisted on having his tea on Sunday mornings, as he was accustomed in London."

This statement is almost too ridiculously untrue to be worthy of refutation. The religious services held by the missionaries at the churches with the natives, instead of being five every day-are only three in each week-two of these are on the Sabbath, and the third on the afternoon of Wednesday. At the time I left the islands in 1825, there was a catechetical exercise every Monday, at which, however, some fifty or a hundred only of the people attended-also a prayer meeting on Friday, held by a few natives themselves, and at which the missionaries were seldom present.

The manner of cooking among the natives is totally different from ours-they are universally in the 'habit of preparing at one time a quantity of food sufficient for seve ral days, and the process of doing this requires the labour of nearly a whole day. Not to have discouraged this labour on the Sabbath, would have been to allow it to remain unnecessarily a day of work. We therefore advised both chiefs and people to have their poe (a principal article of diet) beaten and mixed before the Sabbath; but this advice was unaccompanied by any prohibition whatever, much less by that of kindling a fire. As to the making of tea and such refreshments on the Sabbath, Boki could hardly have found occasion for the remark attributed to him. It would not have been necessary for him to have pleaded his indulgencies in London to secure his cup of teahe need only have pointed to the same hot beverage on the breakfast and tea tables of the missionaries

every Sabbath, and asked why we partook so openly of a luxury, which by rigid tabu we denied to him and his people?

All our instructions in reference to the Sabbath were founded on the general principle of avoiding unnecessary work, and abstaining from unsuitable recreations; and in no instance did they extend to the introduction of burdensome observances, or to the injunction of any self-denial involving an unprofitable austerity.

We are next presented with a series of allegations, supported by the name and letters of Captain Beechey, commander of H. M. sloop of war the Blossom. This officer visited the Sandwich Islands in May, 1826, on his way to Behring's Straits, and as the Reviewer says, writes to England in the following manner: "The efforts of the few zealous missionaries are tending, as fast as possible, to lay waste the whole country, and plunge the inhabitants into civil war and bloodshed. Thousands of acres of land, that before produced the finest crops, are now sandy plains. Provisions are so extremely scarce, that not long since the king sent to beg a little bread of the American consul: the fishery is almost deserted, and nothing flourishes but the missionary school."

Captain Beechey's visit at the Sandwich Islands was limited to a period of about ten days; and it is not probable that his report of the condition and prospects of the nation was the result of extensive personal observation. He has the reputation of being an intelligent and scientifick man; but in this single instance, at least, he must have permitted his better judgment to have been imposed on by the misrepresentation of others, and must have yielded the sense of seeing entirely to that of hearing, in forming his opinion of the state of the islanders. He could not have been on shore an hour at the port

of Honoruru, where he came to an anchor, without having the fullest proof that the king at least was in no danger of starvation.

But to the charges of his letter in their order. He states that the country is becoming a desolation from the influence of the Missionaries-that thousands of acres of land that before (their efforts) produced the finest crops, are now sandy plains. In the year 1804, sixteen years before the arrival of the Missionaries at the Sandwich Islands, Mr. Shaler, a gentleman of respectability and information, at present American Consul at Algiers, was at that group in the Pacifick. His journal was published, and a copy of it was politely put into my hands by Dr. Mease, of Philadelphia, shortly after I saw this account of Capt. Beechey. Mr. Shaler notices the same desolate plains as bearing marks of former high cultivation, which caused the commander of the Blossom so much alarm; but he attributes their appearance to a much more rational cause-the despotism of Tamehameha. He remarks, "it is well understood that no chief of the least consequence can reside any where but near the person of the monarch; and as he migrates through his dominions, he draws after him a train more destructive than locusts. Every thing is abandoned to follow the sovereign; and the country, deserted by all who have an interest in its cultivation, and in the improvement of the lands, becomes of course neglected. I have observed many fine tracts of land lying thus neglected, even in the fertile plains of Lahaina :-the ruined enclosures and broken dykes, around them, were certain indications that they were not always in that state."

I well recollect on landing at Oahu, in 1823, to have had the uncultivated plain, to which Captain Beechey probably alludes, pointed out to me by one of the older of the

foreign residents, as an evidence of the rapid deterioration of the country since the accession of the young king Riho Riho. While Tamehameha lived, he said, that extensive tract was covered with potatoes and melons, sugar-cane and bananas; but since his death every thing was going to ruin. The mission at that time had scarce become firmly established. Little change had then been effected on the habits and pursuits of the people; and it was too early to bring a calumny against them through this channel. But now, when thousands of the natives have become interested in learning to read and write, and have been prevailed on to devote the hours of every day, which they once spent in games and dances, to their schools, it is very easy and very convenient for the opposers of our instructions to say to a visiter, from whom the engagedness of the islanders in the objects of the mission cannot be concealed, "It is true the schools and churches flourish, but look at the desolation of that plain-it is all in consequence of the influence of the missionaries-the whole country is going to rain in the same manner!"

The true cause of the appearances in many parts of the country of a more extensive cultivation and improvement of land formerly than is seen at present, is two-fold. They arise first, and principally, from the rapid depopulation of the islands, from destructive wars and the crime of infanticide, which prevailed to a very great extent; and from the drunkenness and disease introduced by foreigners; and secondly, from a custom among the natives of frequently changing the location of their cultivated grounds -forming a new plantation where there had not been one, and leaving that which they previously occupied to go to waste. This they frequently do from various causes, such as that of securing greater VOL. V.-Ch. Adv.

As to the scarcity of provisions mentioned by Capt. Beechey, and the extremity to which the young king in consequence of it was driven for a crust of bread, I have some striking illustrations in a few statistical dates, put into my possession by a gentleman just arrived in this country from a six years' residence at the Islands, and who was at Oahu at the time of Capt. Beechey's visit.-Ships in considerable numbers, first began to frequent the Sandwich Islands for refreshments in the years 1822 and 1823. In 1822 the number touching at Honoruru was 33; and in 1823 it amounted, at the same place, to 57. The mission at that time, had exerted no influence over the people in general; there were then but few religious services to call them from their work, and no school to interfere with the cultivation of their lands-but provisions were scarce, the prices were high, and the ships were not readily supplied with the refreshments they required. In the year 1826, that of Capt. Beechey's visit, the number of vessels that called at Oahu, was 107-some remained a week, some a fortnight, others a month, and others again three moths. They were all abundantly supplied with provisions, such as hogs, goats, fowls, eggs, potatoes, taro, cabbage, onions, pumpkins, cucumbers, bananas, melons, &c. &c. while they remained in port; and each, on an average, carried to sea from 40 to 60 bbls. of potatoes, and other vegetables, besides live stock. The market was always full, and the demand so profusely supplied, that potatoes and taro, instead of being 83 per bbl. as was the case in preceding years, sold in the publick market for $2 and $1 50, and could be procured at private sale for $1-the rate of all other articles was proportionably lower than formerly.

SG

As to the story about the young king and American Consul, every person in the least acquainted with the despotick power of the government, knows that the whole nation would die with famine before the king's tribute would fail; and proof is not wanting that there never was a time, in the reign of the present king, when he could not in a day have raised provisions for a thousand men.

My next, sir, will complete the series of letters which I promised. Yours, &c.

C. S. STEWART, Late of Sandwich Island Mission.

Boston, July 18, 1827. My Dear Sir-I think it unnecessary to pursue a refutation of the remarks on the Sandwich Islands, extracted from the letters of Capt. Beechey, to a more tedious length. They are all equally open to exposure: the apprehension of civil war and bloodshed, which he expresses, was as groundless as his fears of a famine. And the gratuitous charge founded on it, by the Reviewer, "that the American teachers apply and expound the text of scripture which says, that in the kingdom of heaven none is before or after another, none greater nor less than another, so as exactly to tell the poor creatures, that all men are equal;' and thus to have produced a visible insubordination to the chiefs," is as ridiculous as his pretended text of scripture is untrue.

With these extracts from Capt. Beechey's letters, the animadversion of the writer ceases; and shortly after, the article is brought to a close in true philosophic style, by a speculation on the origin of the islanders. The author's decided opinion is, that it is oriental. In Pele, the goddess of volcanoes, he clearly recognises the Pel, Bel, or Baal, of the eastern world and in all the customs, habits, games, &c. of the people, traces the Asiatic character. As a finish

ing proof of the correctness of his opinion, he adds the following sentence: "Their dispersion over the Pacifick is easily accounted for, by the constant easterly winds, which at various times and in various directions, may have blown fishing canoes from the Asiatick islands to those scattered over the Pacifick, and from one of these islands to another, which last accident, indeed, is constantly happening at the present day."

Unfortunately for this theory, the argument here adduced, instead of being the strongest in its favour, is the most conclusive of all others against its truth. The constant easterly winds of the Pacifick, between the parallels of latitude including most of the clusters of islands, instead of facilitating the dispersion of an Asiatick race over the face of that ocean, would present the most formidable of existing impediments to such migration. The canoes of the South Sea islanders are peculiarly unfit for sailing against the wind: and with these rude boats only for navigation, it seems impossible that the inhabitants of the Marquesas, Society, and Sandwich Islands, should have struggled against a regular eastern wind to their present abodes.

Had the argument been adduced to prove the islanders to be of Mexican or Peruvian origin, it would have been good; but as it stands, it is only an additional evidence of the error of the article from the beginning to the end.

It was doubtless thought by the author a most happy circumstance, that just as the Review was about to appear, a letter should arrive from the islands confirming the allegations against the American missionaries. This letter is introduced in a note, at the close of the number, and is so important a document, that I will place before you the whole of it, as published by the editors, together with their introductory paragraph.

"Since the preceding pages have been struck off, we have been favoured with the following literal copy of a letter of Boki, (which we pledge ourselves to be genuine,) confirming what we have stated with regard to the conduct of the American missionaries at the Sandwich Islands.

"Islands of Woahoo, Jan. 24, 1826. Sir, I take this opportunity to send you thes fu lines, hopping the will find you in good health, as bles god the leve me at present. I am sorrey to inform You that Mr. Pitt (Karaimakoo) has gon thro four opperashons since you sailed from here, but thank god he is now much better, and we ar in hops of his recovery, and I am verey sorey to tell you that Mr. Bingham the head of the Misheneres is trieng every thing in his pour to have the Law of this country in his own hands. all of us ar verry happy to have sum pepel to instruct us in what is rite and good but he wants us to be entirely under his laws which will not do with the natives. I have don all in my pour to prevent it and I have done it as yet. Ther is Cahomano wishes the Misheneres to have the whol atority but I sholl prevent it as long as I cane, for if the have their will be nothing done in thes Islands not even cultivation, for their own use. I wish the peppel to reid and to rite and likewise to worke, but the Misheneres have got them night and day old and young so that ther is verrey little don her at present. The pepel in general ar verrey much discetisfied at the Misheneres thinking they will have the laws in their own hands. Captain Charlton has not arrived from Otiety which makes me think sumthing has happened to him. Mr. Bingham has gone so far as to tell thes natives that neither king George nor Lord Byron has any regard for God, or any of the English cheefs, that they are all bad pepel but themselves, and there is no redemsion for any of the heads of the English or American nations

I have called this letter an important document, and I believe that you, sir, upon examining it, in connexion with one or two facts in my possession, will be of the same opinion. The editor pledges himself that it is genuine-if it is meant by that term, that the original letter is the composition and writing of Boki, I do not hesitate, on my part, to pledge myself that it is not genuine; and being thus at issue, I will present the evidence on which I stake the case.

t

The first proof I would offer, is in the spelling of the proper namesWoahoo, Karaimaka, Cahomano, and Otiety. All these words are in constant and familiar use-they are words of the native language, which Boki has had occasion to spell a thousand times since he has learned to write; and yet, not one of them is here spelled correctly; nor are the mistakes committed, in any instance, those into which a native would fall. Every letter in their language has one sound only, and every letter is sounded. Consequently their errors in spelling are all in the omission, and not in the substitution of letters. These words, however, are spelled according to the orthography in use among foreigners. Boki would have written them thus-Oahu, Karaimaku, Kaahumanu, and Tahiti.

In the second place, the general spelling is such as no native, writing in English, would have adopted. The peculiarity of the native orthography is not betrayed in a single instance-which, in the midst of so much bad spelling, is truly singular. One great difficulty in such a case would have been, in stringing consonants together without the intervention of a vowel in his own language every consonant is invariab followed by a vowel: but in this