84 T U T U I L A. 



with regret, and cannot understand why they are restricted to one 

 wife. They say, " Why should God be so unreasonable as to require 

 them to give up all their wives but one for his convenience?" They 

 pay just attention to their religious duties; morning and evening 

 prayers are always said, as is grace before their meals, and with a 

 devotion rarely to be seen among civilized men. 



Their amusements seem to be few ; their books are constantly 

 before them, and a great portion of their time is employed over them. 

 Old gray-headed men may be seen poring over the alphabet, and 

 taught by some of the youngest of the family. The employment of 

 the men is to cultivate and weed the taro, and to take care of the 

 fences ; they also make sinnet for their houses and canoes for fishing. 

 The women are engaged in making mats, and the boys and girls 

 play, and wait upon their seniors. 



Next to study, fishing is their great employment. This is per- 

 formed by driving the fish towards the nets in shoal water, where 

 they are easily caught. The cast-net is also used. 



The only amusement we saw, is a game called lafo-tupe, which 

 is played with cocoa-nut shells, and resembles shuffle-board. 



Mr. Murray is an amiable as well as a truly pious man, and the 

 natives have imitated the example set by him. He studiously avoids 

 any intercourse with them in the way of trade or barter, except so 

 much as is necessary for the provision of his own family, and devotes 

 his whole time to preaching and teaching the gospel. He is one of 

 the missionaries engaged in translating the Bible, many parts of 

 which are now completed, and extensively used by the natives, many 

 of whom read and write well. 



Their observance of the Sabbath is very strict; and it is impossible 

 to get a native to do any thing whatsoever on that day, but perform 

 his religious duties. They attend church regularly. In Mr. Mur- 

 ray's congregation there are about thirty communicants, and nearly 

 one thousand attendants on public worship. They come from many 

 of the surrounding villages. Mr. Murray has been here about three 

 years, and the native preachers nine or ten : he is well acquainted 

 with the difficulties of his station, but seemed to feel assured that his 

 exertions were about being crowned with success. He represented to 

 me, that the natives were very tractable, and desired exceedingly to 

 be taught; that they had much application, seemed to comprehend 

 many things, and were certainly not surpassed in intelligence by any 

 of the natives of Polynesia. 



