472 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
ever, fifty yards in length, was finished, and presented 
to the king. Its appearance was coarse, and inferior 
to the imported calicoes of British manufacture; it was 
nevertheless grateful to the chiefs, from the fact of its be¬ 
ing the first ever manufactured in their native islands. 
Cotton for another piece was prepared, and the 
natives commenced spinnings hut the confinement 
required being irksome, and their expectations rather 
lowered, as to the quality of the cloth they were to 
receive as wages for their labour,—before the warp was 
ready for the loom, they simultaneously discontinued 
their attendance at the factory. When interrogated 
as to their reasons for this sudden change in their 
conduct, it was.found that they had not indeed struck 
for higher wages, but had left off to think about it, 
and that, until their minds were made up, they could 
not return. The spinning-wheels and the loom now 
stood still, excepting that Mrs. Armitage and Mrs. 
Blossom, with the assistance of their own servants, spun 
the cotton, which Mr. Armitage wove into about fifty 
yards of cloth, for the use of the academy. 
Notwithstanding the inferior appearance of the cloth 
manufactured in Eimeo, it was soon found to be more 
durable than that procured from the ships. Yet the dis¬ 
appointment which the natives had experienced pre¬ 
vented their cultivating the cotton; and but little was 
available for the establishment, excepting that sub¬ 
scribed by the members of the native Missionary 
Societies: the people declined coming to learn, and 
prospects were most unpromising. This, however, 
was not the only source of discouragement. 
Traders, influenced by the limited views and inte¬ 
rested motives which too frequently regulate the pro- 
