THROUGH HAWAII. 
313 
causes, there was every reason to fear the Hawaiian 
people would soon be annihilated, unless some antidote 
was found, some barrier opposed, to their depopulating 
effects. None, I added, were so strong as moral re¬ 
straints ; none so efficacious as instruction and civili¬ 
zation ; and, above all, the principles and doctrines of 
the Bible, which they could not become acquainted 
with but by the residence of missionaries among them. 
Such, Ī informed them, was the opinion of the friends 
of missions, who, anxious to ameliorate their wretched 
condition, preserve from oblivion the remnant of the 
people, place them among the nations of the earth, and 
direct them to the enjoyment of civilized life, and the 
participation of immortality and happiness in another 
world, had sent them the word of God, and missionaries 
to unfold to them, in their own language, its divine 
and invaluable truths. At the close of this interview, 
some again repeated, that it would be a good thing 
for missionaries to come; others expressed doubt and 
hesitation. 
Many of the people, during their intercourse with 
foreigners, have been made acquainted with the leading 
facts in the history of South America and the West 
Indies; and hence the natives of this place, in all pro¬ 
bability, derived the ground of their objection. 
The houses of the natives whom we had visited to¬ 
day, like most in this part of the island, where the 
pandanus is abundant, were covered with the leaves 
of this plant, which, though it requires more labour in 
thatching, makes the most durable dwellings. The 
inhabitants of Waiakea are peculiarly favoured in 
having woods producing timber, such as they use for 
building, within three or four miles of their settlement, 
2 s 
