PREFACE. 
The greater part of the following Narrative was written in the 
Sandwich Islands, from notes taken by my fellow-travellers and 
myself, while engaged in the Tour it describes. At my request, a 
member of the American Mission was associated in preparing it; 
but circumstances requiring his presence in another island, the 
task devolved on myself alone. 
The journal, when prepared, was submitted to most of the - 
missionaries, and approved. As the chief object of the Tour,— 
a survey of the religious state of the inhabitants of the island,— 
was one in which the American Society had an equal interest 
with the London Missionary Society , with which I am connected, 
a copy of the journal approved in the islands, was, according to 
previous agreement between the American missionaries and my¬ 
self, left by me in America, and I believe will be published there. 
The continued narrative form, as more agreeable than that of a 
daily journal, has been adopted in the present publication; and 
the writer appears in the first person, instead of the third. I 
have not felt it incumbent on me to confine myself to the mere 
contents of the document left in America; but have, in various 
parts, made large additions from my own private observations. 
The biographical accounts of various important persons, many 
descriptions of the superstitions, manners, customs, and tradi¬ 
tions of the people, the nature of their government, and the 
remarks on their language, are taken from my own memoranda, 
which a knowledge of their language enabled me to make, during 
my daily intercourse with the natives for the space of two years. 
I have occasionally illustrated my remarks by allusions to the 
Society Islands, where I spent six years in missionary occupa¬ 
tions. I have invariably represented the natives as we found 
them, exhibiting freely the lights and shades of their character, 
without exaggeration; and can assure my readers, that it has 
been my constant aim to offer nothing, the accuracy of which 
may not be relied upon; and, in many descriptions, have rather 
diminished than enlarged the objects described. 
The drawings were sketched on the spot. The outline of the 
map is from Vancouver’s survey, unaltered, except slightly in two 
places, viz. Kairua and Waiakea. The geographical divisions, &c. 
were inserted during the Tour; and specimens brought to this 
country, of the lava, &c. described in the narrative, have been 
inspected by individuals of eminence in the study of mineralogy. 
