Chap. XVH. HIS OBJECT AND PLAN. 437 
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" susceptible of their importance, could do but little at 
" first towards reclaiming a people so totally im- 
" mersed in ignorance ; therefore he resolved on a 
" better plan, and paved the way for introducing the 
" mechanic arts, by creating artificial wants to which 
" they had never before been accustomed, and which 
" he knew must act as the strongest excitement of 
" their ingenuity. Accordingly, he did not apply to 
" the Society for men only of scriptural attainments, 
" but for experienced and useful mechanics, who could 
" instruct the natives in cultivating their ground, build- 
" ing their houses, and regulating the whole system 
" of their internal and external economy. The choice 
" made by the Society of the persons sent out for this 
" purpose was judicious and correct. The two me- 
" chanics who had been selected by them were men 
" of regular and religious habits, and indefatigable 
" industry ; the one an excellent carpenter, and the 
" other a shoemaker, who had been previously in- 
" structed, at the expense of the Society, in the mode 
" of dressing flax ; a species of which plant abounds in 
" the island, and is much valued by the inhabitants, 
*' but whose mode of preparing it is of course much 
" inferior to that practised in Europe. Mr. Kendall, 
" who acted as schoolmaster, an employment of much 
" consequence to the success of the mission in this 
" island, was a man every way qualified for his situa- 
** tion. He joined to mild and persuasive manners a 
** stock of useful knowledge, which he had the happy 
" art to impart without appearing rigorous or severe ; 
" and above all, was impressed with a strong sense of 
" the importance of religion, the duties of which he 
" strenuously endeavoured to inculcate in others, while, 
** punctually observant, he always took care to dis- 
" charge them himself. Such were the men whom 
