404 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
benefit Christianity has conferred, while the tes¬ 
timony of Captain Chase is as honourable to him¬ 
self as it is just to the people, and satisfactory to 
their friends. The last intelligence from this 
interesting island, dated 1829, is highly satisfac¬ 
tory. At this time, Mr. Williams visited them, 
opened a new chapel, sixty feet long, and 
forty feet wide, inspected both the stations, and 
found, in one, scarcely an adult who could not 
read, and was gratified with the hospitality of the 
people, their industry, improvement, and comfort; 
about eighty natives were united in Christian 
fellowship. ^ 
Westward from the Society Islands, and north¬ 
west from Rurutu, a number of important and 
populous islands and clusters are situated. Some 
of them were visited by Cook, Bougainville, La 
Perouse, and other early navigators, others have 
been recently discovered by the Missionaries, or 
masters of vessels conveying native Missionaries to 
the different islands. To the inhabitants of most 
of these, a knowledge of the gospel has been con¬ 
veyed by Christians from the Society Islands, and 
by many tribes it has been cordially received. 
During the summer of 1830, Messrs. Williams 
and Barff visited most of these islands, including 
the Hervey, Tonga, Hapai, and Samoa, or Navi- 
gatois* groups. They have since transmitted a 
very copious and interesting journal of their voy¬ 
age, with historical and general notices of the 
islands and their inhabitants, and an account of 
the introduction of Christianity, and its influence 
on the people. This, we have reason to believe, 
will §oon be published ; our additional notices 
must therefore be brief and general. 
It would appear that, although much has been 
