300 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
that it would be injurious to their interest, and, if 
successful, prevent their being visited by shipping, 
&c., offering, at the same time, to give them for 
their raw cotton twice as much cloth as they could 
procure at the factory. At other times they threat¬ 
ened Mr. Armitage with ruin, and announced their 
determination to oppose him. Sometimes they 
endeavoured to persuade him to abandon so hope¬ 
less a project, as that of attempting to train the 
people to habits of industry. 
Their threatenings to seek his ruin, by opposing 
his efforts, are rather amusing. They doubtless 
supposed the attempt was on his part a speculation 
for the accumulation of wealth; the only end 
which most propose, who visit those islands ; and 
which, when pursued on fair upright principles, is 
not to be condemned. These proceedings, how¬ 
ever, must have originated in very contracted views 
of the influence of such an establishment, which, 
while it may induce and encourage habits of more 
regular employment, can never diminish the de¬ 
mand for British calicoes, which will be superior in 
texture, pattern, &c. to any that can be made in 
the islands. It will also tend to encourage the 
more extensive culture of the cotton, and, in the 
raw state, the natives will never decline disposing 
of it to him who offers the best price. 
Notwithstanding these and various other dis¬ 
couragements, Mr. Armitage was able to persevere ; 
and as there was little prospect of the females he 
had taught to spin making up their minds to 
return, another party was selected. Nearly 
twenty girls, and eight or ten boys, engaged to 
learn to spin and weave. The conditions on 
which they were instructed were almost such as 
they or their friends chose to propose, both as to 
