420 



Monthly Review of Literature, 



[APRIL, 



was present, and openly disclaimed all con- 

 cern with temporal matters. The mission- 

 aries, however, were manifestly very influen- 

 tial persons the chief of them was acting 

 plainly as secretary to the regent. 



The mission has now been established 

 some time, and the greater part of the people 

 have already professed, or will soon profess, 

 the Christian religion. Tamehameha was, 

 as we have seen, the great reformer of the 

 islands. To check the power of the priests, 

 he himself assumed the office, and contem- 

 plated the adoption of Christianity, but died 

 before his purpose was ripe. One of the first 

 nets of his successor, was to renounce ido- 

 latry, and the idols were all quickly consigned 

 to the flames ; Taboo was broken up ; and 

 the interdictions, which forbade women to eat 

 with men, removed. The women, as usual, 

 were most forward and zealous in the work 

 of conversion. The act of Kapiolani is of 

 a high character, and worth recording. 



Kapiolani, a female chief, of the highest rank, 

 had recently embraced Christianity ; and, desirous 

 of propagating it, and of undeceiving the natives 

 as to their false gods, she resolved to climb the 

 mountain (a volcanic mountain, with a burning cra- 

 ter of prodigious extent) descend into the crater, 

 and by thus braving the volcanic deities in their 

 very homes (the prevailing belief was, that the 

 gods of the islands resided in these fires) convince 

 the inhabitants of the islands that God is God 

 alone, and that the false subordinate deities ex- 

 isted or.ly in the fancies of their weak adorers. 

 Th^s determined, and accompanied by a mis- 

 sionary, she, with part of her family and a number 

 of followers, ascended Peli (the mountain) ; at the 

 edge of the first precipice that bounds the sunken 

 plain, many of her followers and companions lost 

 courage, and turned back ; at the second, the rest 

 earnestly entreated her to desist trom her dan- 

 derous enterprise, and forbear to tempt the power- 

 ful gods of the fires. But she proceeded, and on 

 the very verge of the crater, caused the hut we 

 were now sheltered in to be constructed for her- 

 self and people. Here she was assailed anew by 

 their entreaties to return home, and their as- 

 surance?, that if she persisted in violating the 

 houses of the goddess, she would draw down on 

 herself and those with her certain destruction ! 

 " I will descend into the crater/' said she, " and 

 if I do not return safe, then continue to worship 

 Peli ; but if I come back unhurt, you must learn to 

 adore the God who created Peli.'' She accord- 

 ingly went down the steep and difficult side of the 

 crater, accompanied by a missionary, and by 

 some, whom love or duty induced to follow her. 

 Arrived at the bottom, she pushed a stick into the 

 liquid lava, and stirred the ashea of the burning 

 lake. The charm of superstition was at that mo- 

 ment broken. These, who had expected to see the 

 goddess, armed with flame and sulphureous smoke, 

 burst forth and destroy the daring heroine, who 

 thus braved her in her very sanctuary, were awe- 

 struck when they saw the fire remain innocuous, 

 and the flames roll harmless, as though none were 

 present. They acknowledged the greatness of the 

 God of Kapiolani ; and from that time few indeed 

 have been the offerings, and little the reverence, 

 offered to the fireb of Peli. 



Lilian, the wife of Boki, both of whom 

 were in England, has of course adopted the 

 profession of Christianity. On nearing the 

 islands, the Blonde came up with some fish- 

 ing vessels : 



Though we found that, in her youth, Liliah had 

 been accounted one of the best swimmers of the 

 island, and was particularly dexterous in launch- 

 ing her float -board through the heaviest surf, yet 

 now her sense of modesty, awakened by her resi- 

 dence in a civilized country, induced her to with- 

 draw into her cabin at the sight of her almost 

 naked countrymen. And let us observe (proceeds 

 the narrative very happily), that besides what may 

 be attributed to the native modesty of the sex, 

 which no sooner perceives decorum than it adopts 

 it, the gentle and docile character of the whole 

 race of those islanders was agreeably displayed by 

 our fellow-passengers. In dress, occupations, and 

 amusements, they endeavoured to conform to our 

 habits, and that in the manner of a rational imita- 

 tion, and not bearing any mark of savage mimicry ; 

 unless indeed we accuse them, in the case of Kua- 

 na, the Treasurer, who, being by nature some- 

 what of a dandy, had acquired a habit of pulling 

 up the corners of his shirt-collar ; so that his coun- 

 trymen, who are quick observers, and make great 

 use of gesture in speaking, soon learned to desig- 

 nate him by mimicking that action. 



Liliab, the lady of whom we were speak- 

 ing, endeavoured immediately to introduce 

 dress among her female friends; and at first 

 they were delighted with the black silk robes 

 she brought them ; but they were soon found 

 all stripped, and at ease again. She her- 

 self still retained. her dress; her feelings of 

 shame, as was observed, had been awakened 

 by her long residence among Europeans, and 

 were not, when the Blonde left, yet lulled 

 again. The young King's sister, who has, 

 almost from her birth, been attended by the 

 missionaries, refuses to appear, but in full 

 dress. 



Elements of the Philosophy of the Hu- 

 man Mind, by Dug aid Stewart. Vol. III. ; 

 1827. Of Mr. Stewart's ponderous quartos, 

 it never was an easy task to furnish an ab- 

 stract not that a few words might not fully 

 embrace the leading purposes of any of 

 them, and even the pith of the main discus- 

 sions and especially may this be said of the 

 volume before us ; but many of even our 

 thrifty pages would be required to give the 

 reader a tolerable conception of the multi- 

 tude of topics touched upon, referred, de- 

 ferred, resumed, and referred again, toge- 

 ther with quotations, hints, recollections, 

 criticisms, that are sprinkled over every page, 

 in large type and in small, and in smaller 

 still to some persons perhaps refreshing the 

 dryness, and fertilizing the barrenness ; but 

 to others, ourselves included, incumbering 

 the ground, and retarding, sometimes fri- 

 volously and vexatiously, our arrival at the 

 facts, on which he builds his not always 

 important conclusions, and claims, a little 

 too dogmatically, too much ep-cathcdrd, 

 the assent of disciples rather than readers. 



