POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
469 
they might be induced to resume it, if taught on the 
spot to manufacture cotton cloth. This was an article 
in great and constant demand throughout the islands. 
Mr. Armitage was therefore appointed to attempt to 
teach the natives to spin and weave the cotton grown 
in their own gardens. He was a native of Man¬ 
chester, where the members of his family still reside. 
He was well qualified for the undertaking, possessing 
an intimate acquaintance with the various processes 
by which raw cotton is made into cloth, and having 
been overseer or foreman of an extensive manufac¬ 
tory. 
In acceding to the proposal of the Directors, and 
engaging in this enterprise, he manifested a degree of 
generous devotedness seldom excelled. He exchanged 
inviting prospects of wealth, comfort, and usefulness at 
home, for the toil and self-denial inseparable from such 
an attempt. He was on the eve of entering into a matri¬ 
monial engagement. The gentleman who had hitherto 
been his employer had proposed to make him his part¬ 
ner, had arranged for the advance of a very considera¬ 
ble sum of money; part of the materials for commencing 
the new establishment were procured, and the results in 
that line of business have since been such, as to war¬ 
rant the inference, that every advantage the parties 
anticipated might have been realized. This, however, 
he relinquished, and cheerfully engaged in an attempt 
to improve the temporal condition of the islanders, 
with no other remuneration than the Missionaries re¬ 
ceive—a bare supply of the necessaries of life. 
It may, perhaps, be thought that I am trespassing 
the bounds of propriety in giving these particulars 
to the public; but, in this instance, and there are 
