452 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
And while they slumbered from their heavy meals, 
In dead forgetfulness of life itself, 
The fish were spawning in unsounded depths, 
The birds were breeding in adjacent trees, 
The game was fattening in delicious pastures, 
Unplanted roots were thriving under ground. 
To spread the tables of their future banquets !” 
They furnish a striking illustration of the sentiment^ 
that to civilize a people they must first be christianized. 
A change in their views and feelings had now taken 
place, and, learning from the Scriptures, that idleness, 
and irregular and debasing habits of life, were as 
opposed to the principles of Christianity, as to their own 
personal comfort; they were disposed to attend to the 
recommendations of their teachers in this, as well as 
other matters. 
Industry, however, soon languishes, unless nurtured 
by more powerful motives than the effects of abstract 
principles upon partially enlightened and ill-regulated 
minds. To increase their wants, or to make some of 
the comforts and decencies of society as desirable as 
the bare necessaries of life, appeared to us the most 
probable method of furnishing the best incitements to 
permanent industry. It was therefore recommended to 
them to erect for themselves more comfortable dwellings, 
and cultivate a larger quantity of ground, to meet the 
exigencies of those seasons of scarcity which they often 
experienced during the intervals between the bread¬ 
fruit crops. We also persuaded them to use such 
articles of our clothing as were adapted to their climate 
and habits, and to adopt our social and domestic habits 
of life. This not only required a considerable addition 
of personal labour, but a variety of articles that could 
not be supplied on the islands, and must be obtained 
