OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. 415 
part of the district—and they began to apprehend 
either that the population had been swept off by 
some contagious disease, or that they had all gone 
to battle. At length their fears were removed by 
one of the party, who had been there before, ob¬ 
serving, that it was the Sabbath, and that on that 
day the natives did not launch their canoes, or 
light their fires, &c. In 1821, Captain Grimes 
“ was surprised at the regularity and good order 
observed ; the children of the Sabbath-school were 
ushered in by their teachers in their different 
classes, with as much uniformity as we see in public 
schools in London.” Several masters of South Sea 
whalers, captains and officers in his majesty’s navy, 
have borne the most decided testimony to these 
facts. A naval officer, who was at Tahiti in 18*22, 
stated, that he visited the islands under a consider¬ 
able degree of prejudice against the Missionaries, 
and suspicion respecting the reported change 
among the people,—but that his visit had entirely 
removed both. It was Friday when the vessel 
arrived ; the natives thronged the ship with fowls, 
fruit, vegetables, &c. for sale, manifesting consi¬ 
derable earnestness and address in the disposal of 
their goods. The same was continued through the 
second day ; but on the third, to the great as¬ 
tonishment of all on board, no individual came 
near the ship, assigning, afterwards, as a reason, 
that it was the Sabbath. On the day following, 
however, the trade was as brisk as it had been 
on that of their arrival. Captain Gambier, who 
visited them in the same year, in the extracts 
from his journal, which have been published, 
states, in reference to the manner of attending 
the duties of the Sabbath among the young, that, 
“ The silence—the order preserved—the devotion 
