MISSIONARY DISCIPLINE. 257 



most innocent, are sternly prohibited ; singing is 

 a punishable offence ; and the consummate pro- 

 fligacy of attempting to dance would certainly 

 find no mercy. On Sundays, no cooking is per- 

 mitted, nor must even a fire be kindled : nothing, 

 in short, must be done ; the whole day is devo- 

 ted to prayer, with how much real piety may 

 be easily imagined. Some of the royal attend- 

 ants, on their return from London, at first op- 

 posed these regulations, and maintained that 

 the English, though good Christians, submit to 

 no such restraint. Kahumanna, however, in- 

 fatuated by her counsellor, will hear of no op- 

 position ; and as her power extends to life and 

 death, those who w^ould willingly resist are 

 compelled to bend under the iron sceptre of this 

 arbitrary old woman. 



A short time before our return, a command 

 had issued, that all persons who had attained 

 the age of eight years should be brought to 

 Hanaruro, to be taught reading and writing. 

 The poor country people, though much discon- 

 tented, did not venture to disobey, but patiently 

 abandoning their labour in the fields, flocked to 

 Hanaruro, where we saw many families bivouack- 



