POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
37 
guardianship of the Rev. S. Marsden^ the steady patron of 
the New Zealand Mission^ established their first settle¬ 
ment at Rangehoo in the Bay of Islands. Considerable 
reinforcements have been sent^ and three other stations 
formed. Since that period, the Wesleyan Missionaries 
commenced their labours near Wangaroa. The Mission¬ 
aries and their assistants, who have laboured at these sta¬ 
tions ever since their commencement, have not only 
steadily and diligently applied to the study of the lan¬ 
guage, which is a dialect of that spoken in all the eastern 
portion of the Pacific, established schools for the instruc¬ 
tion of the natives, and endeavoured to unfold to them 
the great truths of revelation, but have from the begin¬ 
ning, by the establishment of forges for working iron, saw- 
pits, carpenters’ shops, &c. laboured to introduce among 
the natives, habits of industry, a taste for the mechanic 
arts, and a desire to follow the peaceful occupations of 
husbandry; thereby aiming to promote their advance¬ 
ment in civilization, and improve their present condi¬ 
tion, while they were pursuing the more important 
objects of their mission. 
Success indeed has not been according to their de¬ 
sires, but it has not been altogether withheld; the gene¬ 
ral character of the people, in the neighbourhood of the 
settlements, is improved, and several pleasing instances 
of piety among the natives have been afforded. Diffi¬ 
culties attending the introduction of Christianity were 
from the first, and are still to be expected. The gross 
ignorance, prejudices, and superstition of the natives, 
the unbridled influence of their passions, the effects of 
their intercourse with foreigners inimical to the moral 
influence of the gospel, combine to resist its establish¬ 
ment. To these may also be added, their habitual 
