PACIFIC AND BEERING'S STRAIT. 95 



catastrophe, however, that more than ever disposed chap. 

 him to repentance, and determined him to execute w- y^- 

 the pious resolution he had made, in the hope of ex- i^' 

 piating his offences. 



His reformation could not, perhaps, have taken 

 place at a more propitious moment. Out of nine- 

 teen children upon the island, there were several be- 

 tween the ages of seven and nine years ; who, had 

 they been longer suffered to follow their own inclina- 

 tions, might have acquired habits which it would have 

 been difficult if not impossible for Adams to eradi- 

 cate. The moment was therefore most favourable 

 for his design, and his laudable exertions were at- 

 tended by advantages both to the objects of his care 

 and to his own mind, which surpassed his most san- 

 guine expectations. He, nevertheless, had an ar- 

 duous task to perform. Besides the children to 

 be educated, the Otaheitan women were to be con- 

 verted; and as the example of the parents had a 

 powerful influence over their children, he resolved 

 to make them his first care. Here also his labours 

 succeeded ; the Otaheitans were naturally of a tract- 

 able disposition, and gave him less trouble than he 

 anticipated : the children also acquired such a thirst 

 after scriptural knowledge, that Adams in a short 

 time had little else to do than to answer their in- 

 quiries and put them in the right way. As they 

 grew up, they acquired fixed habits of morality and 

 piety; their colony improved; intermarriages oc- 

 curred : and they now form a happy and well-regu- 

 lated society, the merit of which in a great degree 

 belongs to Adams, and tends to redeem the former 

 errors of his life. 



