294 NOTES. 



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

 soon 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 

 labors, 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 sav- 

 age, and the demoniacal revels of the cannibals dancing and 

 shouting 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 possession of the ship. But with the glass they 

 could distinctly see the clear streams of water foaming down 

 their channels in the mountains. Meadows faded away in 

 the distance, enchanting 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-giv- 

 ing treasures; and forests rich with tropical fruits, juicy and 

 luscious, were every where spread around. 



