RURUTU. 
403 
acquainted with it, he dissuaded them from it, and 
recommended them to give him the articles they 
had received, assuring them he would write to the 
owners of the ship, who would remunerate them. 
The ship was afterwards wrecked and lost, and the 
captain no longer employed by his owners. 
Another ship, commanded by an individual, who 
was chief officer at the time of this unjust trans¬ 
action, was also lost, and I have not heard of 
any recompense being made to the natives. They 
however, since they have embraced Christianity, 
have treated every foreigner by whom they have 
been visited with kindness. Nine months after 
our departure in 1824, a large American ship, the 
Falcon, Captain B. C. Chase, was wrecked here 
The chief officer and crew remained some time on 
the island. The captain proceeded to South 
America, but, before he left, he delivered the fol¬ 
lowing testimony to the native teachers. “ The 
natives gave us all the assistance in their power, 
from the time the ship struck till the # present mo¬ 
ment. The first day, while landing the things 
from the ship, they were put into the hands of the 
natives, and not a single article of clothing was 
taken from any man belonging to the ship, though 
they had it in their power to have plundered us of 
every thing. Since I have lived on shore, myself, 
officers, and people have received the kindest 
treatment from the natives, for which I shall ever 
feel thankful. Myself and officers have lived in 
the house of Puna, who, together with his wife, 
has paid every attention to make us comfortable, 
for which I return my sincere thanks, being the 
only compensation I can make them at present.”— 
The contrast between this conduct, and their 
purpose some years before, rs decisive as to the 
