374 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES# 
manners, more rude in their arts, and possessed of 
fewer comforts, than most of their northern neigh¬ 
bours were, when first discovered. Their inter¬ 
course with Tahiti has not only increased their 
knowledge, and their sources of temporal enjoy¬ 
ment, but has been the means of introducing 
Christianity among them, and raising many to the 
participation of its “ spiritual blessings.’' In 1829, 
Messrs. Pritchard and Simpson found that four 
chapels had been erected in different stations, 
at which, by native Missionaries, religious instruc¬ 
tion was statedly imparted. The inhabitants ma¬ 
nifested a pleasing attention during public service, 
and their advancement in knowledge exceeded the 
expectations of their visitors. 
A fresh avenue is here opened for European com¬ 
merce, and valuable information is likely to result 
from the visit of the teachers to this solitary abode. 
The English Missionary from Tahiti was the first 
foreigner that ever landed on their coasts; but 
many years before his arrival, an inhabitant of 
some other island, the only survivor of the party 
with whom he sailed from his native shores, had 
been by tempestuous weather drifted to the island, 
and was found there by the native teachers, who 
first went from Tahiti. His name was Mapuagua, 
and that of his country Manganeva,* which he 
stated was much larger than Rapa, and situated in 
a south-easterly direction. The people he de- 
* The islands which bear the nearest resemblance to 
the description here given, are situated in lat. 23. 12. S. 
and long. 135. W. They are lofty, verdant, and populous, 
and were discovered on the 24th of May, 1797, by Captain 
Wilson, in the Duff; by whom, in honour of Admiral Lord 
Gambier, they were called Gambier’s Islands .—Missionary 
Voyage, p. 118. 
