EARNESTNESS OF APPLICANTS. 233 
objects, were not coming in search of pearls or 
gems, but the more valuable treasure contained in 
the sacred Scriptures, deemed by them ‘‘ more 
precious than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” 
One evening, about sunset, a canoe from Tahiti 
with five men arrived on this errand They landed 
on the beach, lowered their sail, and, drawing their 
canoes on the sand, hastened to my native dwell- 
ing. I met them at the door, and asked them 
their errand. Luka, or Te Parau na Luka, 
“¢ Luke, or, The Word of Luke,” was the simulta- 
neous reply, accompanied with the exhibition of 
the bamboo-canes filled with cocoa-nut oil, which 
they held up in their hands, and had brought as 
payment for the copies required. I told them I 
had none ready that night, but that if they would 
come on the morrow, I would give them as many 
as they needed; recommending them, in the 
mean time, to go and lodge with some friend in 
the village. Twilight in the tropics is always 
short—it soon grew dark; I wished them good 
night, and afterwards retired to rest, supposing 
they had gone to sleep at the house of some 
friend ; but, on looking out of my window about 
daybreak, I saw these five men lying along on the 
sround on the outside of my house, their only bed 
being some platted cocoa-nut leaves, and their 
only covering the large native cloth they usually 
wear over their shoulders. I hastened out, and. 
asked them, if they had been there all night: they 
said they had; I then inquired why they did not, 
as I had directed them, go and lodge at some 
house, and come again. Their answer surprised 
and delighted me: they said, ‘“‘ We were afraid 
that, had we gone away, some one might have 
come before us this morning, and have taken what 
