XVIII CONDITION OF THE PEOPLE 441 



these points I will not pretend to offer any opinion, in 

 opposition to men who have resided as many years as I was 

 days on the island. 



On the whole, it appears to me that the morality and 

 religion of the inhabitants are highly creditable. There are 

 many who attack, even more acrimoniously than Kotzebue, 

 both the missionaries, their system, and the effects produced 

 by it. Such reasoners never compare the present state with 

 that of the island only twenty years ago ; nor even with that 

 of Europe at this day ; but they compare it with the high 

 standard of Gospel perfection. They expect the missionaries 

 to effect that which the Apostles themselves failed to do. In- 

 asmuch as the condition of the people falls short of this high 

 standard, blame is attached to the missionary, instead of credit 

 for that which he has effected. They forget, or will not 

 remember, that human sacrifices, and the power of an idolatrous 

 priesthood — a system of profligacy unparalleled in any other 

 part of the world — infanticide a consequence of that system — 

 bloody wars, where the conquerors spared neither women 

 nor children — that all these have been abolished ; and that 

 dishonesty, intemperance, and licentiousness have been greatly 

 reduced by the introduction of Christianity. In a voyager to 

 forget these things is base ingratitude ; for should he chance 

 to be at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, he 

 will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the missionary may 

 have extended thus far. 



In point of morality, the virtue of the women, it has been 

 often said, is most open to exception. But before they are 

 blamed too severely, it will be well distinctly to call to mind 

 the scenes described by Captain Cook and Mr. Banks, in which 

 the grandmothers and mothers of the present race played a 

 part. Those who are most severe should consider how much 

 of the morality of the women in Europe is owing to the 

 system early impressed by mothers on their daughters, and 

 how much in each individual case to the precepts of religion. 

 But it is useless to argue against such reasoners ; — I believe 

 that, disappointed in not finding the field of licentiousness 

 quite so open as formerly, they will not give credit to a 

 morality which they do not wish to practise, or to a religion 

 which they undervalue, if not despise. 



