POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
467 
overlooked. Some stimulus to more regular employ¬ 
ment than that to which the natives had been accus¬ 
tomed, during the unsettled and indolent state of 
society from which they were just emerging, was 
still necessary for their contentment and individual 
happiness, as well as their national prosperity. 
The Directors of the Missionary Society were not 
influenced by their own choice, but by the necessities 
of the people, in making these and other secular arrange¬ 
ments, which were not contemplated in the original 
constitution and object of their association, but have 
resulted from the changes effected by their agents in 
the circumstances of those communities among which 
they have resided} and have sometimes involved an 
expense which could not always be met without 
difficulty. These collateral exertions often occasion 
embarrassment, and it would be highly gratifying, if 
other institutions were able to prosecute those depart¬ 
ments of effort, which are rather appendages than pro¬ 
per parts of Missionary labour. Were the resources 
of those societies formed for the universal diffusion 
of education, and the means of the British and Foreign 
Bible Society such as to enable them to undertake 
entirely the instruction of the heathen, and the trans¬ 
lation and circulation of the Scriptures, it would greatly 
facilitate the extension of Christianity. If, in addition 
to those already in existence, there was also an institu¬ 
tion for the promotion of agriculture, mechanic arts, 
social order, and the general civilization of rude and 
barbarous tribes, such a society would exert a most 
beneficial and commanding influence, and furnish an 
able and important agency, in conjunction with those 
now engaged. It would enable Missionary institu- 
