1840.] MISSIONARIES. 323 



pose of an outrigger, and i= always kept toward the weath< 

 side. There is a single mast, usually about thirty feet hig 1 

 which is supported by guys, and has a long yard bearing 

 huge triangular sail or mat. On the platform there is a hou 

 or cabin, for shelter in stormy weather, the roof of which 

 flanked by railings, and constitutes a sort of hurricane-der 

 There are small hatchways at each end of the double hi. 

 single canoes. The Tongese have a mode of sculling thn 

 seems to be peculiar to them and the Feejees. The oar 

 confined in a hole in the platform, behind which stands tl 

 sculler, who holds his implement perpendicularly, and bear 

 his whole weight upon it. Canoes are propelled in this man 

 ner with great rapidity, often making three miles in an hour 

 Both kinds of the Tongese craft leak badly, and though man 

 aged with great skill, they require constant bailing. 



(5.) In 1821, the Wesleyan missionaries first began their 

 labors in the Tonga Islands, but permanent establishments 

 were not made till 1829. In the last mentioned year station.- 

 were formed on Tonga and Hapa'i, and in 1830, on the island 

 of Vavao. The smaller islands are under the care of native 

 teachers. About one quarter of the inhabitants of the group 

 are professed christians, one half of whom are church-mem- 

 bers. Not only have the islanders benefited by the religious 

 instruction of their spiritual teachers ; numbers of them have 

 been taught to read and write, and to understand the first prin- 

 ciples of geography and arithmetic, while many of the females 

 have learned to knit and sew. 



As a people, the Tongese are much attached to their an- 

 cient customs, and fierce and bloody contests have taken 

 place between the heathen and christian parties. The mis- 

 sionaries have not always been the friends of peace. When 

 the American Squadron touched at the islands, the hostile, 

 factions were marshalling their forces for battle. Captain 

 Wilkes made an ineffectual attempt to procure a pacific ar- 

 rangement of all difficulties, but his efforts were not very well 

 seconded by the missionaries, who seemed perfectly willing 

 that there should be a trial of strength between the rival 



