138 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
merit. Excepting in Tahiti^ there is now no island on 
which more than a single Missionary resides, and con¬ 
sequently public preaching only at the station which he 
occupies. The principal families in most of the islands 
have removed to the settlement, to enjoy the benefit of 
regular instruction. Others, however, occupy lands 
which are at some distance; and even those who have 
erected their dwellings near the residence of their 
teacher, having plantations situated in a remote dis¬ 
trict, are often absent for several days together. Most 
of them, however, repair to the settlement for the Sab¬ 
bath; and it is a spectacle that has often gladdened our 
hearts, when, on the Saturday afternoon, we have seen 
parties from every direction approaching, by land or by 
sea, the bay, at the head of which our settlement was 
formed. 
In a walk through the village, on the afternoon of the 
day preceding the Sabbath, looking along the shore, we 
have often beheld the light canoe doubling a distant 
point of land, and, with its native cloth or matting sail, 
wafted towards the station. Others nearer the shore, 
with their sails lowered, have been rowed by the men; 
while the women and children were sitting in the stern, 
screened from the sun by a temporary awning. Along 
the coast, many were unlading their canoes, or drawing 
them upon the beach for security. 
The shore presented a scene of activity. The crack¬ 
ling fire or the light column of smoke might be seen 
rising through the district, and the natives busily engaged 
in cooking the food for the Sabbath. On account of 
their food being dressed for the Sabbath on the Saturday, 
that day is called mahana maa, food-day. As the even¬ 
ing approached, multitudes were met returning from 
