294 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
objects of only secondary importance, were not to 
be overlooked. Some stimulus to more regular 
employment than that to which the natives had 
been accustomed, during the indolent state of 
society from which they were emerging, was still 
necessary for their individual happiness, as well 
as their national prosperity. 
The Directors of the Missionary Society were 
not influenced by their own choice, but by the 
necessities of the people, in making these and 
other secular arrangements, which were not con¬ 
templated in the original constitution and object 
of their association, but have resulted from the 
changes effected by their agents in the circum¬ 
stances of those communities among which they 
have resided; and have sometimes involved an 
expense which could not always be met without 
difficulty. These collateral exertions often occa¬ 
sion embarrassment, and it would be highly grati¬ 
fying, if other institutions were able to prosecute 
those departments of effort, which are rather ap¬ 
pendages than proper parts of Missionary labour. 
Were the resources of those societies formed for 
the universal diffusion of education, and the means 
of the British and Foreign Bible Society such as to 
enable them to undertake entirely the instruction 
of the heathen, and the translation and circulation 
of the Scriptures, it would greatly facilitate the 
extension of Christianity. If, in addition to those 
already in existence, there was also an institution 
for the promotion of agriculture, mechanic arts, 
social order, and the general civilization of rude 
and barbarous tribes, such a society would exert a 
beneficial and powerful influence, and furnish an 
important agency, in conjunction with those now 
engaged. It would enable Missionary institutions 
