CORRESPONDENCE WITH GOV. REICKORD.

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happiness to peruse your evangelical epistle, which was handed me by Mr. Clark. I cannot help observing that its date, with the important contents, and the auspicious events of the Sandwich Islands, which prepared the way for your great work, appear to me to be stamped with something marvellous. The deep impression which this glorious event has made upon my mind, continues yet to occupy my imagination; and I firmly believe in the interposition of Divine Providence in behalf of your great undertaking.

"I beg you will accept my warmest thanks for the favor you have done me, in communicating news so gratifying to my feelings, and you shall have my fervent prayer unto our Lord, for the preservation of your precious life, consecrated for the happiness of the people, where you have devoted yourself to pass the remainder of your days, and where all your enjoyments and labors are closely connected with eternity.

"You wish to know, honored Sir, the moral condition of the people of Kamtschatka. I have the satisfaction to inform you, that, except a few wandering tribes, all the aborigines enjoy the sweet blessing of the gospel of our Lord, and even these wandering tribes are visited by our priests, to recommend to them the principles of Christianity; but, since, through all the extensive empire of our much beloved sovereign, so justly styled by you the 'great patron of benevolent institutions,' the character of the pious and devoted missionary stands so high, that they need not doubt his protection, but rather command it, wherever the sacred name of Alexander is pronounced. I should be very happy to receive any missionaries who would choose to visit the peninsula of Kamtschatka, and offer them all the assistance in my power.

"I have the honor to inform you that I am now about to send our post away to St. Petersburgh. A copy of your epistle is prepared to be transmitted to our minister, and the president of the Bible Society, Prince Galitzin, who will not fail to present it to our Emperor. I am quite proud of the idea that Kamtschatka's post, barren of itself, will announce this time, to all Christendom, the most glorious event for the kingdom of our Lord of Heaven and earth. "With sentiments of high esteem: Yours faithfully,

"PETER REICKORD."

His mail left Kamtschatka for St. Petersburgh, perhaps by reindeer speed, when ours, by the Levant, was two months on its way to New York, through the China Sea, both hastening to announce to Christendom the new era at the Sandwich Islands. Notwithstanding their early start and desirable speed, before they reached their destination, the question of our residence appeared to have been quietly settled, and we had brought under immediate instruction about one hundred pupils, differing in age, sex, and condition -kings, queens, chiefs, plebeians, and orphans, had begun to make important attainments, and, with thousands of others, had become convinced that the mission could be useful to the nation. The report of the arrival and reception of the mission reached

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ADDRESS OF J. EVARTS, ESQ.

the United States, in March, 1821, seventeen months after its embarkation from Boston. Multitudes, who had been aiding it by their prayers and contributions, and so long waiting to hear how it sped, received the intelligence with joy and devout thanksgiving, which it is believed will be renewed at length in heaven, and felt a new impulse to missionary zeal and activity and others, who had been indifferent to the claims of Christ, were by these events led to engage in his service. As a specimen of the feelings and reflections of the intelligent friends of the Redeemer's cause in Europe and America, on hearing of the change of the tabus and the introduction of the mission, the remarks of the honored Secretary of the American Board at a monthly concert for prayer at Park St. Church, Boston, deserve a record at the close of this chapter. A large concourse from different churches were there assembled to hear, and pray, and give thanks, whom, after alluding to our voyage and to portions of our journal which he was about to read to them, relative to our reception, he thus addressed;

"Let us contemplate the circumstances in which this vessel was approaching these islands of the great Pacific.

"Here was a people numerous, and in many respects interesting, on whom no ray of the Sun of Righteousness had yet fallen; but who had been groping their toilsome way, for unknown generations, probably from the very origin of idolatry among Noah's descendants, in all the darkness and gloom of a horrible superstition-a superstition which, under various modifications, but always essentially the same, has enchained so great a proportion of the human race, and of which the prominent characteristics are impurity and blood. Here, from the days of the remotest tradition, human sacrifices have been offered. Here, the strange mummeries of idol-worship, which the worshippers themselves did not pretend to understand, served only to perplex and terrify the darkling mind, without affording even a momentary comfort, or having the least tendency to restrain from sin. From the discovery of these islands, more than forty years ago, a frequent and continually increasing intercourse with Europeans and Americans may have occasioned the rigor of heathen observances to be in some measure relaxed: but still no light shone from heaven; there was no just knowledge of God, of Christ, and of salvation. Still, the unvarying testimony of voyagers was, 'These people are so addicted to their pagan customs, that they will never give them up. They will not abandon their taboos, and their sacrifices. You may attempt to teach them better, but you will never succeed.' Thus reasoned the world. The Christian knew such reasoning to be unsound; but what Christian could have imagined, in his most sanguine moments, that such a change should have taken place, as the recent history of these islands discloses? In the forcible language of our missionaries, By a single stroke of Jehovah's arm, the idols and the temples were crushed into the dust.' The priesthood deserted their altars of abomination; and, in a single day, lost their proud and tyrannical pre-eminence. The spell of diabolical enchantment was broken; the inveterate customs of three thousand years were

GRATEFUL NOTICE OF THE PIONEERS' ENTRANCE. 121

abolished. Still, at the close of these wonderful, unparalleled, unexplained transactions, all was darkness; all was ignorance of what it most concerns immortal beings to know. The prison walls were indeed levelled with the ground; and the manacles were knocked off: but how could the prisoners walk, when they were both lame and blind?

At this conjuncture, a vessel heaves in sight. She has travelled 18,000 miles over a wide waste of waters, and has a select number of passengers, who have come on a peculiar errand. What is it? It is to proclaim the tidings of God's love to a perishing world; to offer salvation freely to all who repent and believe; to teach these benighted pagans the way to heaven. The heralds, who have cheerfully gone to make this Divine proclamation, are our brethren. From the doors of this sanctuary they commenced their voyage of benevolence. With strong attachment to their native country; with prospects of usefulness and respectability at home; with health and friends, and all that could make this life desirable; they deliberately renounced the whole, and counted all things but loss, if they might enjoy the privilege of preaching Christ to these perishing islanders. Even delicate females, educated in all the tenderness which distinguishes a Christian country, accustomed to polished and refined society, could willingly forego their enjoyments, bid adieu to their dearest friends, submit to the inconveniences and perils of a six months' voyage in a crowded vessel, with the single hope and aim of settling among barbarians, enlightening their dark understandings, and communicating to them that Gospel, which is the power of God and the wisdom of God to all them that believe.'

་

"Were you present, my brethren, at this point of time, what would be your feeling? Did you see the islands, with their perishing thousands on the one hand, and the little company of missionaries, their breasts heaving with the magnanimous, the high and holy purpose to which I have barely alluded, on the other, would you not wish them God-speed?

"Suppose the living worthies, who have done most to meliorate the condition of man, and have given most evidence of their having partaken of the spirit of Christ, to be assembled for the purpose of beholding such a spectacle. Imagine the pious and philanthropic Wilberforce, and the venerable Scott, and the honored Teignmouth, and the laborious and beloved officers of the Missionary and Bible Societies in Great Britain, and the indefatigable Bogue, and the enraptured Chalmers, and Mrs. More, elevated almost above the confines of mortality, and the aged Swiss Baron, with his equally venerable associate, and Marshman and Carey from presiding in their schools, and Morrison rising from his Chinese Bible, and Marsden the founder of Christian society in New Holland: nor would they disdain the presence of their younger brethren, and of those less known to the world, but belonging to the same class, and delighting in the same employment.

"There you might see, mingled with other active laborers in the Gospel harvest, our own Hall, and Newell, and Richards, restored from the grave to witness so goodly a sight, and Kingsbury, forgetting his Indians for a season, and Fisk and Parsons, with their eyes averted even from their beloved Palestine. In such a company, on such an occasion, what would be the tone of feeling? Would not the whole assembly,

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as moved by one impulse, fall on their knees, and pray most importunately, that God would open an effectual door among the heathen, and give access to the princes and the people; that he would preserve this little band of pilgrims, and make their way prosperous; that he would glorify his own name, by the salvation of a countless multitude of souls, in the present generation, and through all succeeding ages.

แ Though the actual condition of man upon earth does not allow of such a meeting as this; and though continents and oceans here separated those who are closely joined in purpose and affection; there is nothing in reason or Scripture to forbid the supposition, that the spirits of just men made perfect take a lively interest in the concerns of the Church below; and that they may be the delighted spectators of those movements, which bring salvation to their kindred, or light and joy to the dark places of the world. With what rapture, then, would the departed members and friends of the Society, under whose auspices this mission was sent forth, hail the day when the missionaries descried Hawaii, and spread forth their hands to its inhabitants, in the attitude of invitation and entreaty, beseeching them to hear the message from heaven. With what holy exultation would the sanctified and glorified minds of Dwight, and Spring, and Huntington, the father and the son, and Mills, and Warren, and Harriet Newell, and Opukahaia again visiting his birth-place, witness these overtures of mercy and how would Eliot and Swartz, Brainard and Martyn, Vanderkemp and Thomas, with multitudes of others, possessing the same character, and having devoted their lives to the same ennobling employments, join in mutual congratulations, and in ascribing the most exalted praises to God and the Lamb.

"And what object would more naturally arrest the attention of ministering angels, on visits of kindness to the redeemed from among men ; with what accelerated flight would they return to the regions of celestial glory with the ravishing intelligence!

"But, to whatever inconceivable height of heavenly joy and sympathy created spirits, all in their several ranks and orders, may have been excited on the occasion, and however numerous the assembly of saints and angels, there was still a more august Witness of the scene; and we have reason to believe that He regarded the enterprise with infinite benignity and love. This glorious Personage said, and not one of his declarations shall fail of accomplishment, Öther sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one fold, and one Shepherd:'' Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature.' 'Lo I am with you always, even unto the end of the world.'

"Let us then, my brethren, elevate our minds to the occasion, and learn to regard these transactions as they are regarded in Heaven."

Oh could the friends of Christ throughout Christendom but learn to regard his gracious designs towards the heathen " as they are regarded in Heaven," how soon would the sound of salvation reach all the ends of the earth!

CHAPTER VI.

SECOND YEAR OF THE MISSION, AND THIRD OF LIHOLIHO.-1821.

The Hawaiian Hula.-Removal of the Royal Family.-Insolent Priest.-Suspension of Kailua Station.-The King's visit to Honolulu.-Death of Likelike.— Wailing and Amusements.-Nuuanu and Palikoolua.-Arrival of Kaahumanu and the Royal Family at Honolulu.-Commodore Vascilieff.-Excursion to Kauai. -First Church at the Islands.-Visits of Whale Ships.-Proposed Voyage to Tahiti.—Sporting in the surf.-Liholiho's Voyage and Visit to Kauai.—Liliha's Canoe Voyage.-Excursion on Kauai.-Removal of Kaumualii.-His Union with Kaahamanu.-Her Illness.-Visit of the Russian Exploring Squadron.

WHILE Some of the people who sat in darkness were beginning to turn their eyes to the light, and were disposed to attend our schools and public lectures, others, with greater enthusiasm, were wasting their time in learning, practising, or witnessing the hula, or heathen song and dance. This was intended, in part at least, as an honor and gratification to the king, especially at Honolulu, at his expected reception there, on his removal from Kailua.

Notwithstanding the self-indulgent and overbearing course of their monarch, the show of loyalty, feigned or real, was very general. For many weeks in succession, the first sound that fell on the ear in the morning was the loud beating of the drum, summoning the dancers to assemble. Some of our pupils were required to attend and perform their part. Day after day, several hours in the day, the noisy hula-drumming, singing, and dancing in the open air, constituted the great attraction or annoyance. The principal scene of the hula at Honolulu was a large yard, contiguous to the house of the governor. The ground was covered with fresh rushes, brought from a neighboring marsh, slung on the backs of the dancers, chiefs, and plebeians, men, women, and children, who, in such cases, walk in single file, precisely like the aborigines of North America. In the hula, the dancers are often fantastically decorated with figured or colored kapa, green leaves, fresh flowers, braided hair, and sometimes with a gaiter on the ancle, set with hundreds of dog's teeth, so as to be considerably heavy, and to rattle against each other in the motion of the feet. Notwithstanding these decorations, much of the person is uncovered; and the decent covering of a foreign dress was not then permitted to the public dancers. They were arranged in several equidistant ranks of considerable length, and at the sound of numbers, moved together, forward, backward,