POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, 
551 
own child into the sacred office of an evangelist. 
However Missionary pursuits may have been accounted 
the honour, or have proved the happiness, of the parent, 
the child, as he grows up, may not even possess a desire 
to engage in the same: that desire the parent cannot 
give; and without it, it would be both cruel and injurious 
to every party to urge it. 
The alternative is most distressing to contemplate. 
There are at present no situations of comfort to fill, no 
trade or business that can be followed. Productive 
plantations, regular labour, mercantile establishments, 
warehouses, and shops, it is to be expected, will 
ultimately exist and flourish in these islands, but they 
cannot be looked for in the short period of fifteen 
years from the time when the people emerged from the 
grossest ignorance, the most inveterate vices, and the 
most enervating and dissipating idleness. The circum¬ 
stances of the female branches of the Mission families 
is, perhaps, still more discouraging. 
I have extended these remarks much beyond what I 
intended, when speaking of the South Sea Academy; and 
although they may be less interesting to the general 
reader than other matters, they will serve to shew what 
are some of the heaviest trials of a Missionary life among 
an uncivilized people; and may not only awaken the 
sympathies of the friends of Missionaries, but lead to 
such a consideration of the subject, as may result in the 
suggestion or application of a remedy, which, if it shall 
not altogether remove them, shall, at least, alleviate their 
pressure; which is, perhaps, felt more heavily by the 
present generation, than it will be by their successors. 
