1839.] THE MISSIONARIES. 209 



that beneficially, everywhere throughout the islands.* A 

 few abandoned white men, in connection with the heathen 

 chiefs, have endeavored to counteract their efforts ; but they 

 have never been injured or insulted. The results of their 

 ministry are before the world. 



Old customs, some of which, — the use of flowers, for in- 

 stance, — might, we think, have been retained without preju- 

 dice, have been done away, and newer and better ones 

 introduced. One third of the whole population are professed 

 christians. The schools established in the different towns 

 are attended by over twelve thousand pupils, children and 

 adults. Ordinarily, it is as still and quiet on the Sabbath 

 as in a New England village. Great attention is paid to 

 religious duties ; frequent exercises are held during the week ; 

 and grace before meals, and morning and evening prayers, 

 are said. There are about a dozen missionaries, who are 

 assisted by one hundred and fifty native teachers, on the dif- 

 ferent islands. They have a printing press at Upolu ; and 

 nearly all the Bible has been translated and printed by them, 

 and read by the natives. 



(6.) The houses of the natives are of an elliptical form, and 

 from twenty to forty feet in length. They are generally built 

 amidst groves of bread-fruit trees, which afford their inmates 

 a shelter from the storm, and a protection against the rays 

 of the sun. Sometimes they are erected on the bare earth, 

 and sometimes on flagged terraces of stone raised from two 

 to four feet above the ground. In the former case, it is 

 usual to cover the floors with a layer of small stones, in order 

 to keep them dry. In the centre of one of these houses, there 

 are several upright posts, varying in number with the size of 

 the building, from twelve to fifteen feet high, upon which a 

 ridge pole is laid and firmly secured by lashings of sennit. 



* One of the most efficient and successful of the missionaries on the Naviga- 

 tors' Islands, was the Rev. John Williams, author of " Missionary Enterprises," 

 and " The Missionary's Farewell," who fell a victim to the cause in which ha 

 was so zealously engaged, shortly after the squadron sailed from the group, — 

 being murdered by the natives of the New Hebrides, whither he had gone to 

 propagate the gospel. 



