248 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
slit or notch in the end of the cane presented at his 
window. 
When the edition issued from the press in Huahine, 
the relative proportion for Raiatea^ Tahaa, and Borahora^ 
was sent to the Missionaries residing with the people | 
but the supply was too small^ and numbers of the dis¬ 
appointed individuals^ supposing they should find a 
greater abundance at Huahine^ came^ when the wind was 
fair^ twenty or thirty miles in their canoes, several of 
which were such small and fragile barks as quite as¬ 
tonished us. I was really surprised at the temerity of 
the individuals who had committed themselves to the 
mercy of the waves of the largest ocean in the world, in 
the hollowed trunk of a tree, twelve or twenty feet long ; 
the sides of which, when the men were in it, were not more 
than four or five inches above the surface of the water. 
It would be too much to suppose that they were all 
influenced by the highest motives, in the desire they thus 
manifested for the sacred volume; but while some pro¬ 
bably sought it only as an article of property in high and 
general esteem, others were undoubtedly actuated by a 
conviction that it was able to make them wise unto 
salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus. 
The intensity of ardour manifested by many at first, has, 
as might be expected, subsided: yet still the Scriptures 
are earnestly sought, and highly prized, by a great por¬ 
tion of the adult population. 
The whole of the New Testament has been translated 
and printed, not indeed in a uniform volume, but in 
detached portions, which many of the natives have bound 
up together. Separate portions of the Old Testament 
have also been translated, and some of the books are 
printed; it is to be hoped that a uniform edition of the 
