POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
519 
merly have done, every one appeared to dread it as the 
greatest calamity. They gathered round the house of 
the Missionary, declaring that if attacked they would not 
fight, but would willingly become prisoners or slaves, 
rather than go to war. The threatened war was thus 
prevented—those with whom the reports had originated 
were sought out—an appeal was made to the laws, instead 
of the club and the spear, and the matter submitted to 
the magistrate rather than to the warrior. The punish¬ 
ment annexed to the circulation of false and injurious 
reports was inflicted on the offenders, and the parties 
united in amity and friendship. 
As they feel the blessings of peace increase with its 
continuance, their desires to perpetuate it appear stronger. 
Its prevalence and extent are often surprising, even to 
themselves ; and some of the most striking illustrations 
of the advantages of true religion, and appeals for its 
support and extension, are drawn from this fact, and 
expressed in terms like these : Let our hands forget 
how to hi te omore, or vero ti patia, lift the club, or throw 
the spear : Let our guns decay with rust, we want them 
not; for though we have been pierced with balls or 
spears, if we pierce each other now, let it be with the 
word of God: How happy are we now, we sleep not 
with our cartridges under our heads, our muskets by our 
side, and our hearts palpitating with alarm: Now we 
have the Bible, we know the Saviour; and if all knew him, 
if all bowed the knee to him, there would be no more 
war on the earth. 
It is not in public only that they manifest these senti¬ 
ments ; in ordinary life at home, they act upon them. 
The most affectionate and friendly intercourse is culti¬ 
vated between the parties who formerly cherished the 
