294 NOTES. 



abode. God smiled, however, upon their exertions, and sooii 

 these wild men and women turned from their idols and their 

 sins, and cultivated the arts of peace. 



A few years after the missionaries had commenced their 

 labours, an American whale ship came in sight of an unknown 

 island in the Pacific Ocean. They had been for six months 

 cruising in search of their gigantic game without having seen 

 any land. Scurvy, that terrible scourge of seamen, had seized 

 one after another of the crew, till there were not enough left 

 in health to navigate the vessel in safety. Scurvy is a disease 

 caused by living a long time upon salted provisions, without 

 any vegetables ; and the sufferers are almost immediately re- 

 stored to health when they can breathe the fresh air of the 

 land and eat freely of fruits and herbs. Here was this ship, 

 several thousand miles from the South American coast. The 

 crew were emaciated and dying. 



Before them rose, in all the beauty of tropical luxuriance, 

 one of those islands of the ocean, which appeared to the mari- 

 ner, weary with gazing for months upon the wide waste of 

 waters, like the Garden of Eden. But they dared not ap- 

 proach those shores. A foe, more treacherous and dreadful 

 than disease, they apprehended there. The club of the savage, 

 and the demoniacal revels of the cannibals dancing and shout- 

 ing around their roasting victims, were more to be dreaded 

 than death by slow and lingering approaches in the ship. 

 They dared not draw near the shore, for they were too feeble 

 to prevent the natives, should they come out in large numbers 

 in their canoes, from climbing up the sides and taking posses- 

 sion of the ship. But with their glass they could distinctly 

 see the clear streams of water foaming down their channels 

 in the mountains. Meadows faded away in the distance, en- 

 chanting the eye with their shady groves and their rich verdure. 

 The cocoa-nut tree reared its graceful head upon the beach, 

 laden with its precious and its life-giving treasures ; and forests 

 rich with tropical fruits, juicy and luscious, were everywhere 

 spread around. 



