EARNESTNESS OF APPLICANTS. 233 
objects, were not coming in search of pearls or 
gems, but the more valuable treasure contained in 
the sacred Scriptures, deemed by them “ more 
precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” 
One evening, about sunset, a canoe from Tahiti 
with five men arrived on this errand They landed 
on the beach, lowered their sail, and, drawing their 
canoes on the sand, hastened to my native dwell¬ 
ing. I met them at the door, and asked them 
their errand. Luka , or Te Parau na Luka , 
“ Luke, or, The Word of Luke,” was the simulta¬ 
neous reply, accompanied with the exhibition of 
the bamboo-canes filled with cocoa-nut oil, which 
they held up in their hands, and had brought as 
payment for the copies required. I told them I 
had none ready that night, but that if they would 
come on the morrow, I would give them as many 
as they needed; recommending them, in the 
mean time, to go and lodge with some friend in 
the village. Twilight in the tropics is always 
short—it soon grew dark ; I wished them good 
night, and afterwards retired to rest, supposing 
they had gone to sleep at the house of some 
friend ; but, on looking out of my window about 
daybreak, I saw these five men lying along on the 
ground on the outside of my house, their only bed 
being some platted cocoa-nut leaves, and their 
only covering the large native cloth they usually 
wear over their shoulders. I hastened out, and 
asked them, if they had been there all night: they 
said they had ; I then inquired why they did not, 
as I had directed them, go and lodge at some 
house, and come again. Their answer surprised 
and delighted me : they said, “ We were afraid 
that, had we gone away, some one might have 
come before us this morning, and have taken what 
