CHAP. V. 
SPREAD OE THE ART OF WRITING. 
119 
the latter reclines in his sickness on his mats spread on the 
floor in his leaf-thatched hut, as his fathers had done for 
generations before, he has only to utter his wishes or his 
orders, and these are conveyed to those whom they concern 
with as much authenticity and correctness as the most formal 
despatch from an office of the most civilised nation. And 
when I reflected that to such an extent had the native go¬ 
vernment availed itself of the advantages of writing as that 
in the year 1836, when the late missionaries left the capital, 
there were four thousand officers employed, who transacted 
the business of their respective departments by writing, and 
that such is the benefit or pleasure which the people find in 
thus communicating with each other that scarcely a traveller 
ever journeys from one place to another without being a letter- 
carrier, I was strongly impressed with the fact that, besides 
the benefits of their directly religious teaching, missionaries 
are rendering most important aid towards the enlightenment 
and civilisation of mankind. 
After a subsequent visit, I sent to the chief, who remained 
an invalid for some time, a little tea and sugar, and a few 
biscuits, for which he expressed himself thankful, observing 
that he had but little appetite, and did not relish his food, 
though he had some time before bought a first-rate cook, for 
whom he had given seventy dollars, about 13 1 .; but that she 
was ill at that time, and he was consequently deprived of her 
services. 
During the day on which I was unpacking my luggage, 
several young men, traders from the capital, came to my house 
to ask what new articles of trade I had brought, and par¬ 
ticularly if I had any violins or musical instruments to sell. 
Soon afterwards a man arrived with a turkey and a duck, as 
a present from a chief living close by, and I afterwards re¬ 
ceived a number of similar presents from persons residing in 
