NATIVE MISSIONS. 
299 
tianity, which is not restrictive and selfish, but 
expansive and communicative—animated by the 
spirit of the primitive Christians, and, imitating 
their example—the members of the first Polynesian 
churches no sooner enjoyed the advantages of 
religion themselves, than they adopted vigorous 
measures for imparting them to others. 
Some notice of their efforts to communicate a 
knowledge of Christianity to other tribes in the 
Pacific, of the islands to which they have sent 
their Missionaries, and others more or less con¬ 
nected with these, will, it is presumed, not be 
unacceptable, as presenting a more distinct view 
of the relation these islands bear to Tahiti and the 
adjacent group. 
An account has already been given of the for¬ 
mation of Missionary societies in Tahiti, Eimeo, 
and Huahine. Others were afterwards established. 
Their first remittance to London was in 1821, and 
amounted to nearly £1900. The Raiatean society, 
besides maintaining at its own expense six native 
Missionaries, sent to England, in 1827, £300. 
This sum, and the liberal contributions from other 
associations, would have been greatly increased, 
could the productions, in which the native sub¬ 
scriptions were furnished, have been disposed of to 
the best advantage. 
The anniversaries of the native societies, and 
their public Missionary meetings, continue to prove 
to the inhabitants seasons of delightful satisfac¬ 
tion. At these meetings their pleasure has been 
heightened by the details of native Missionaries 
who have returned from distant islands, and the 
exhibition of rejected idols from countries where 
formerly they had been worshipped. Inhabitants 
of remote islands have appeared at their meetings, 
