Forest-palace of a Native Chief. 565 



natives to similar exertions. The gi-eat resources at the 

 disposal of the Protestant missionaries, and the circumstance 

 that they attend to the temporal as well as the eternal weal of 

 their dusky neophytes, exhausting their medical skill in 

 illness, educating their children, ministering to their wants 

 both by advice and co-operation, must be regarded as the 

 main causes of the rapid spread of Protestantism throughout 

 the races of the Pacific Ocean. We have seen missions, of 

 which the schools, places of worship, and dwelling-houses, 

 constructed of iron, were imported from the United States 

 ready made, while the expenses of maintenance were defray- 

 ed by an annual grant of 20,000 dollars. What a gratifying 

 contrast to the wretched aj)pliances with which Catholic over- 

 sea missions are compelled to eke out a precarious existence ! 

 We landed at a spot where the Roankiddi promised to be 

 navigable for vessels of a better class than the hollowed-out 

 canoes of the natives, and for the remainder of the distance to 

 the chiefs residence we followed a footpath tlu-ough the forest. 

 Close to the landing-place is a large, hall-like building, which 

 is used as an assembly-room by the natives on the occasion of 

 their festivities. Around the interior of this are ranged 

 couches stuffed with straw for families of rank, not unlike 

 berths roimd a ship's cabin. The centre of the hall is set 

 apart for slaves and servants, who dm-ing these rude reunions 

 are busily employed preparing food and di'ink for strangers. 

 As often as a meeting is deemed necessary, invitations are 

 sent off to the various chiefs requesting their co-operation. 



