176 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
acquired such an acquaintance with the language 
of the people, as to be able to pursue my inquiries 
among them, have made an impression on my 
own mind that will never be effaced, and not only 
excited the highest delight, but convinced me, 
that, in the circumstances under which the change 
occurred, the agency by which it was accomplished, 
and the continuance of its effects, it is altogether 
one of the most remarkable displays of Divine 
power that has occurred in the history of mankind, 
and is, perhaps, unparalleled since the days of the 
apostles. Detached notices of this event have 
been transmitted to England in the letters of the 
Missionaries, and in the different publications of 
the Missionary Society. No connected and re¬ 
gular account has, however, yet been furnished ; 
but in reviewing all that has been recorded, it 
may be confidently affirmed, in the language of 
the deputation sent by the Society to the South 
Seas, that “ God has indeed done great things 
here.’ , 
It is much to be regretted, that the Missionaries 
on the spot—who were intimately acquainted with 
every indication of the moral and spiritual process 
that was going on, even in its incipient stages, and 
every event which marked its gradual develop¬ 
ment, until, in the language of the natives on 
another but similar occasion, it burst upon them 
like the light of the morning—did not, at the time, 
prepare a full and particular account of the work 
which, under God, they had been instrumental in 
effecting: but their motto always was, to “ say too 
little rather than too much/’ to persevere in labour, 
rather than employ their time in detailing their 
engagements ; and to exercise the greatest caution 
and brevity in speaking of any thing connected 
