62 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Dark, moonless, moral nights, living like beasts. 
Like beasts descending to the grave, untaught 
Of life to come, unsanctified, unsaved.^’ 
To reclaim the inhabitants from error and superstition, 
to impart to them the truths of revelation, to improve 
their present condition, and direct them to future 
blessedness, were the ends at which they aimed; and 
here tl ey commenced those labours which some of them 
have continued unto the present time; and which, 
under the blessing of God, have been productive of the 
moral change that has since taken place among the 
inhabitants of this and the adjacent islands. Decisive 
and extensive as that change has since become, it was 
long before any salutary effects appeared as the result 
of their endeavours. And, although the scene before me 
was now one of loveliness and quietude, cheerful, yet 
placid as the smooth waters of the bay, that scarcely 
rippled by the vessel’s side, it has often worn a very 
different aspect. Here the first Missionaries frequently 
heard the song accompanying the licentious areois 
dance, the deafening noise of idol worship, and saw the 
human victim carried by for sacrifice: here, too, they 
often heard the startling cry of war, and saw their 
frighted neighbours fly before the murderous spear 
and plundering hand of lawless power. The invaders’ 
torch reduced the native hut to ashes, while the lurid 
flame seared the green foliage of the trees, and clouds 
of smoke, rising up among their groves, darkened for a 
time surrounding objects. On such occasions, and they 
were not infrequent, the contrast between the country, 
and the inhabitants, must have been most affecting, 
appearing as if the demons of darkness had lighted 
up infernal fires, even in the bowers of paradise. 
