72 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
saying, “ What a fine country yours must be, compared 
with this! What large bales of cloth come from thence, 
while the clothing of Hawaii is small in quantity, and 
very bad. The soil there must be very prolific, and 
property easily obtained, or so much of it would not 
have been brought here. I informed them, that the dif¬ 
ference was not so great between the countries as be¬ 
tween the people. That, many ages back, the ances¬ 
tors of the present inhabitants of England and America 
possessed fewer comforts than the Sandwich islanders 
now enjoy; wore skins of beasts for clothing; painted 
their bodies with various colours; and worshipped with 
inhuman rites their cruel gods: but since they had be¬ 
come enlightened and industrious, and had embraced 
Christianity, they had been wise and rich; and many, 
there v r as reason to hope, had, after death, gone to a 
state of happiness in another world; that they owed all 
their present wealth and enjoyment to their intelligence 
and industry; and that, if the people of either country 
were to neglect education and. religion, and spend as 
much of their time in eating, sleeping, and jesting, they 
w r ould soon become as poor and as ignorant as the 
Sandwich islanders. They said, perhaps it was so; 
perhaps industry and instruction would make them 
happier aud better, and, if the chiefs wished it. bwand 
by they would attend to both. After again eiJpKIIng 
them to improve the means now placed withiirtheir 
reach by the residence of the missionaries among them, 
L took leave of them. During the forenoon, I went into 
several other houses, and conversed with the people 
on subjects relating to the mission, recommending 
their attention to the advantages it was designed to 
confer. Some approved, but many seemed very well 
