330 
POLYNESIAN RESEACRHES. 
allow us to withhold every encouragement; and though^ 
under the present circumstances and feelings of the 
people, they were peculiarly so; yet, as many of the 
communicants, and several who were desirous of uniting 
with them, were females, there were many things, 
in reference to which they needed advice, but which 
they did not deem suitable to introduce at a public 
meeting. Mrs. Barff and Mrs. Ellis therefore, being 
able to converse familiarly in the native language, 
proposed to meet the female members of the church, 
and those of their own sex who were desirous of 
joining them, once a week, for general conversation, and 
mutual spiritual improvement. This was an interesting 
meeting; it was held alternately at our respective habita¬ 
tions, Mrs. Barlf and Mrs. Ellis both attending. It 
commenced with singing a hymn ; a prayer was offered, 
and a portion of Scripture read. After this, the most 
unreserved conversation followed on religious subjects, 
the training of their children, and other relative duties 
connected with the new order of things which Chris¬ 
tianity had introduced. 
Parental discipline among the people, prior to their 
reception of Christianity, had been remarkably lax. The 
children were their own masters as soon as they could act 
for themselves, and the restraint which the mother was able 
to impose was trifling indeed. Such was the abundance 
of provision, that the maintenance of a child was a mat¬ 
ter of no anxiety to any one. Hence, if a boy felt offended 
with his parents, he left them without ceremony, attached 
himself to atiother family in an adjacent or remote dis¬ 
trict, and remained for months without visiting his 
father’s house. To restrain these fugitive habits, and 
train their children to regular industry, was one of the 
