THROUGH HAWAII. 
331 
their character, and destructive of their race, will be 
entirely laid aside, as has been the case among the 
Tahitians; and there is every reason to presume, that 
the pleasing change, which has resulted from the gene¬ 
ral reception of the gospel among the latter, will, under 
the divine blessing, be ultimately realized by the Sand¬ 
wich Islanders. May that happy period soon arrive ! 
for if the total abolition of this cruel practice (though 
amongst the least of its benevolent objects) be the 
only advantage which the establishment of a Christian 
Mission in these distant islands shall confer on their 
inhabitants, yet, in rescuing every year, through all 
the succeeding generations of this reviving nation, mul¬ 
titudes from a premature death, the liberal assistance 
of its friends and the labours of its several members 
will be most amply rewarded. 
On the morning of the 13th we examined some of the 
eastern parts of the bay. I also visited Maaro. On 
arriving at the house in which I had left the sick chief 
yesterday, the natives told me that he had been re¬ 
moved, that the house where he then was, was tabu, 
and the tabu would be broken if I should go there. 
They refused to tell where he was, but did not attempt 
to prevent my going in search of him. After travelling 
a mile and a half inland, I reached the house in which 
he lay, and was immediately invited to enter. The 
number of small sticks, with the leaves of the ti plant 
fastened round them, which I saw fixed in different 
parts of the house, particularly around the mat on 
which the chief was reclining, induced me to think they 
had been performing some incantation for his recovery, 
or were preparing for one. I asked one who sat by, 
and who, I supposed, was a kahuna, (doctor,) what 
