SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
129 
children through life, and whose early death has been most 
grievous to him. He received their bodies standing by a 
chair covered with black velvet, placed for him close to the 
platform prepared for them; and prepared as he was for the 
reception of their remains, he was extremely agitated, and 
could not restrain his tears. As soon as the coffins were 
deposited on the platform, the band accompanied some 
native singers in a funeral hymn, which the missionaries had 
written and taught them to sing, to the air of Pleyefs Ger¬ 
man Hymn. We could not help reflecting on the strange 
combination of circumstances here before us : every thing na¬ 
tive-born and ancient in the Isles was passing away : the dead 
chiefs lay there, hidden in more splendid cerements than 
their ancestors had ever dreamed of; no bloody sacrifice 
stained their obsequies, nor was one obscene memorial made 
to insult the soul as it left its earthly tenement; but in¬ 
stead, there was hope held out of a resurrection to happi¬ 
ness, and the doctrines admitted that had put an end to 
sacrifice for ever, and pronounced the highest blessing on 
the highest purity! Where the naked savage only had 
been seen, the decent clothing of a cultivated people had 
succeeded, and its adoption, though now occasional, pro¬ 
mises permanency at no distant period. Mingled with 
these willing disciples were the warlike and the noble of the 
s 
