PRIVATIONS OF THE FIRST MISSIONARIES. 217 
barley, pease, and beans, nor other pulse and 
grain, are grown, yet the aborigines with a mode¬ 
rate degree of labour may obtain the necessaries, 
and many of what are by them esteemed the luxu¬ 
ries, of life. Their diet and modes of living are, 
however, still very different from those to which a 
European has been accustomed, and which he 
finds, even in their altered climate, most conducive 
to his health. In this respect, the first Mission¬ 
aries endured far greater privations than those who 
have since joined them. They were often without 
tea and sugar, had no other animal food than that 
which they procured in common with the natives, 
and but seldom obtained flour. For some years 
after our arrival in the islands, the supply of this 
last article was very inadequate and uncertain ; we 
have been months at a time without tasting it, 
either in the form of bread or any other prepara¬ 
tion. The supply now procured is, however, more 
regular, and the introduction of goats furnishing 
milk, and the flesh of the kid, the feeding of cattle, 
by which means the residents are able to make 
butter, and occasionally to kill an ox, has greatly 
improved their circumstances. 
