NOTES. 



A, p. 26. 



WHEN the islands of the Pacific Ocean were first discovered by 

 Europeans, some of the natives were found very timid and 

 friendly, while others were fierce, treacherous, and warlike. 

 For many years after their discovery, these islands were visited 

 only by those who were on voyages of discovery, or who were 

 in the pursuit of gain. The natives were treated with great 

 inhumanity ; and drunken seamen, rioting through their vil- 

 lages, and trampling upon all the laws of right doing, soon in- 

 troduced all the vices of civilized life to be added to those of 

 the savage state. The natives generally became exasperated, 

 and were ever watching for opportunities to cut off the ships 

 and massacre the seamen. A Nantucket whale ship was at 

 one time wrecked upon one of the Feejee Islands. The crew 

 escaped in their boats to the shore, and, before they were dis- 

 covered by the natives, succeeded in constructing a fort for 

 their defence. The natives, however, soon found them ; and, 

 after a long and bloody battle, all of the sailors were slain ex- 

 cept two little boys, whose lives were spared. One, after the 

 lapse of many years, escaped on board a whale ship which 

 stopped at the island. The other has never been heard from. 



Such was the condition of these islands when the English 

 missionaries, taking their lives in their hands, went among 

 them to Christianize the inhabitants. The missionaries were 

 ridiculed, opposed, and traduced by thousands at home, and 

 they endured every species of privation and hardship from the 

 habitations of cruelty, in the midst of which they took up their 



