194 LETTER FROM MR. ARMSTRONG. 
present, a good supply of books, having re- 
ceived a very suitable grant from the Society 
for Promoting Christian Knowledge. The 
whole of the books will, I am sure, highly 
delight them ; and, from all I hear, I have 
no doubt they will be prized, and made good 
use of. You will be glad to learn that they 
are all well educated, the young men being 
instructed in navigation, and some of the 
lower branches of the mathematics ; and that 
they live together in the greatest harmony, 
and in the strictest observance of religious 
duties, public, family, and private, with every 
appearance of perfect freedom from all crime, 
and bearing the stamp of extreme innocence 
and simplicity. A new regulation has been 
recently made for the distribution of all their 
books among the families, they having been 
before kept as public property, as it was 
believed that they would be more read and 
valued in that way, and for which purpose 
shelves have been put up in all their houses, 
which are very neat and comfortable, though 
more like ships' cabins than dwelling houses. 
The reason they give for this arrangement is, 
that they are in the habit of walking into 
