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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
sionary among them. So long as onr distributions had 
been frequent and increasingly valuable^ the expressions 
of attachment would have b en ardent^ and the attend¬ 
ance regular; but when these had failed^ their zeal^ &c. 
would have declined^ and the chapel and the school 
would have been deserted. In addition to this^ when¬ 
ever a fresh supply of articles^ for our own mainte¬ 
nance or use^ might have arrived^ if we had not been 
equally liberal in the distribution of our presents^ we 
should have been unhesitatingly charged with keeping 
for ourselves that which was designed for them^ and 
thus have been involved in most unpleasant altercation. 
The plans of procedure^ in the commencement of a new 
Mission^ must necessarily be regulated in a great degree 
by the circumstances of the people among whom it may 
be established; and the extreme poverty^ or fugitive 
habits^ of the parents^ may render it desirable for the 
teachers either wholly or in part to maintain the 
scholarS 5 - order to secure attendance. These instances 
are I believe very rare^ and absolute necessity alone 
can warrant recourse to such a plan. Instruction itself 
will be undervalued; it can never be attempted but on a 
very limited scale^ and will be always liable to vexatious 
interruptions. A system of maintenance should only 
be adopted in regard to such pupils as it is hoped are 
under religious impressions^ or are training with a view 
to their becoming monitors or schoolmasters themselves. 
In those parts of the world where the scholars could not 
be supported while at the schools^ it would be better 
for them to devote a portion of their time to such em¬ 
ployment as would enable them to procure the means 
of subsistence themselves, than that they should receive 
their maintenance from the Mission. 
