202 PROCEEDINGS OF THE ACADEMY OF [Apr., 



Huahine imprint. The first press in the South Seas was brought 

 to Tahiti by the London Missionary Society about 1818 on the 

 restoration of their work following the failure of the first settlement 

 of the party which was sent out to Tahiti, Tonga and the Marquesas 

 on the Duff "in 1799. The first three items in this list do not, there- 

 fore, represent the first product of the press in Tahiti, for a con- 

 siderable mass of literature had by 1837 been accumulated in Tahitian. 

 But they do show that when the need first arose for religious prints 

 in the evangelization of Samoa, it was necessary to employ the 

 Tahiti press at Huahine as being the only one accessible. John 

 Williams began his mission in Samoa in 1835 by a brief visit and 

 returned in 1837; it is clear that the first three items were the product 

 of his learning somewhat of the Samoan language in his first visit 

 and that on his return to Tahiti he made this provision for his perma- 

 nent settlement. 



Rarotoga imprint. A second and better press was received in 

 Tahiti in 1837 and the old machine then became available for the 

 new mission in Rarotonga which had been established by John 

 Williams on his way to Samoa in 1835. To this we owe items 4 and 5. 



Upolu imprint. A new press was sent out from London in 1839 

 for the Samoan mission, and the Rev. John B. Stair was detailed to 

 that field because of his knowledge of practical printing. It is not 

 unreasonable to infer that the broadside of Psalms (item 6) is the 

 first sheet run off the Samoan press, and that item 7 was the next, 

 for we note that these two items use Roman numerals with points 

 for the date and that it is not until we reach item 8 that we find 

 Arabic numerals. That the Samoan printery was fairly well equipped 

 we observe from the fact that items 7 and 8 are the only ones stitched 

 or covered in the Polynesian series. 



Vavau imprint. Less is known of the introduction of the press 

 into Tonga. Item 9 shows that it was used for the printing of 

 religious material for the mission in Fiji, which was subordinate to 

 the Wesleyan establishment in Tonga. That this alphabetary and 

 fragment of the Gospel of Saint Matthew was not the first Fijian 

 product of that press is evidenced by the fact that the binding shows 

 the use of wasted sheets of a former print. - 



2 Included in the same parcel is an undated specimen from another linguistic 

 province. This is a small square octavo of six signatures without page numbers, 

 stitched with fiber, bound with famihar Chinese red paper. The title occupies 

 the upper third of page 1, as follows: Pinag Daanang Buhay nang | Princesa 

 Adriana sa Caharian | nang Antioquia at nang | Principe Pantinople | sa 

 Francia. This translation of a Spanish Novelette into one of the Philippine 

 languages was undoubtedly acquired by Peale when the expedition visited the 

 Sulu Islands. 



