NOTES. 



A, p. 48. 



WHEN the islands of the Pacific Ocean were first discover- 

 ed by Europeans, some of the natives were found very timid 

 and friendly, while others were fierce, treacherous, and war- 

 like. 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 villages and trampling upon all laws of right doing, soon 

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

 of the savage state. The natives generally became exasper- 

 ated, 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 discovered by the natives, succeeded in construct- 

 ing a fort for their defense. The natives, however, soon found 

 them ; and after a long and bloody battle, all of the sailors 

 were slain except 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 



