2 1 6 Voyage of the Novara. 



himself largely of this manuscript, which has also been trans- 

 lated into SiVedish. 



Mr. Howe spoke highly of the liberality of the present 

 Governor, M. Saisset, as compared with the intolerance dis- 

 played by his predecessors, with respect to celebrating Pro- 

 testant worship. Then, he told us, he was not permitted to 

 preach elsewhere than in his chapel, and then only in 

 English, whereas now he can perform religious service in 

 other districts whenever the natives request him to do so. 

 Moreover, in the dissemination of religious tracts and books of 

 prayer, there is much more relaxation than formerly, and 

 during the last tour of inspection of the Governor, that gentle- 

 man himself took with him 500 copies of a translation of the 

 Bible, for distribution among the Protestant natives of the 

 districts he was about to visit. The want of elementary 

 religious books in the interior was so great, that even Catho- 

 lic teachers had to sue for some, preferring Protestant Bibles 

 to having none at all. 



Although Mr. Howe is the only one of the fourteen 

 missionaries once resident here to whom permission was 

 accorded to remain behind on the island, there are neverthe- 

 less a great number of native teachers who preach and 

 celebrate worship on the Sunday. The Canakas* as it is the 

 custom to call the natives, on such occasions bring with them 

 to the chapel their Bibles and little hymn-books in a small 



* Canaka, in the Tahitian dialect, as in that of the Sandwich Islands, is equivalent 

 to Man. 



