WHALING VOYAGE e 
241 
were restrained or tabooed, for scarcely a word could we 
extract from them—obedient though discontented. 
Some of our men asked for water, but “ taboo 
was the slow and sullen reply. In this part the mis- 
sionaries held supreme sway, to which the natives had 
been unwillingly subjected by a few of their chiefs. We 
soon gladly returned to our ship, after having been much 
disgusted with the various scenes which demonstrated 
so large a share of religious intolerance. Many acts of 
extreme oppression, 1 might with propriety say tyranny, 
could I unfold, if the limits of this sketch did not 
preclude me from so doing ; but far be it from me to 
entertain a sentiment or express a word in disparage- 
ment of our holy religion ; I only wish to see the 
beauties of that faith displayed to the rude islander 
by enlightened and moral men, who would strengthen 
precept by example. Will it be believed, that when a 
missionary and his family returned to Owhyhee from a 
general meeting of his brethren, which had been held at 
another island of the same group, and called Oahoo, 
that when the natives of the place saw him coming 
into the bay in his little sloop, every one of them 
actually fled from their homes to avoid the trouble that 
would have been inflicted upon them, in removing him, 
his baggage, and family, a short distance into the country. 
Can it be said that this man had obtained any power 
over the minds of this generous people by the kindness 
of his acts, or by the influence of his Christian deport - 
ment ?■ — as the Sandwich Islanders are really an exceed- 
ingly kind and generous people. All that I saw here 
M 
