A Journal of a Tour Around Hawaii, the Largest of the Sandwich Islands

PREFACE.

was soon in great demand. Other works in the native language have since been published.

In the spring of this year, the Rev. William Ellis, an English Missionary, who had resided. several years at the Society Islands, came to the Sandwich Islands, on his way to the Marquesas. He was accompanied by the Rev. Daniel Tyerman and George Bennet, Esq. two gentlemen who had been sent by the London Missionary Society as deputies to their missions in the South Seas; and, also, by two Tahitian chiefs, who were sent, with their wives, by the church of Huahine, as missionaries to the Marquesas.

This company having been detained at the Sandwich Islands for a considerable period, and Mr. Ellis and the two Tahitians being almost immediately able to use the Hawaiian language with facility, the natives became so much interested in them, as to invite them to remain permanently at the Sandwich Islands. This invitation being strongly seconded by the American Missionaries, was accepted. At the close of the year, Mr. Ellis went to Huahine for his family, and returned in the February following.

In April, the mission received a further accession of strength by the arrival of new labourers from the United States. This called for an enlargement of operations. Two missionaries were sent to Maui, and, as soon as circumstances would permit, arrangements were made for surveying Hawaii, with a view to the judicious occupation of that large and populous

island. Mr. Ellis, the English missionary, the Rev. Asa Thurston, the Rev. Charles S. Stewart, the Rev. Artemas Bishop, and Mr. Joseph Goodrich, (a licensed preacher,) American missionaries, were selected for this purpose.

Mr. Stewart was detained from the service by ill health. The rest commenced the tour of the island early in the summer of 1823, and completed it in a little more than two months. The results of the tour form the subject-matter of this volume.

A short time after the return of the Deputation from Hawaii, the king, Rihoriho, embarked in a whaling ship for England. His object seems to have been chiefly to increase his knowledge of the world. Accompanied by his favourite queen, a chief, and some other native attendants, he arrived in London early in the following summer: but, in the course of a few weeks, both he and his wife sickened and died. The remains of these two personages were sent back to the islands in the Blonde, an English Frigate, commanded by Lord Byron, brother to the poet; and upon their arrival, the funeral rites were performed, in a Christian manner, by their affectionate and sorrowing people. A younger brother succeeds to the government, which seems to rest upon a solid basis.

The progress of the missionaries in attracting the attention of the natives to religious instruction, and in teaching them to read and write their own language, especially of late, has been truly surprising. Schools, managed

by natives themselves, have become quite numerous, and are constantly increasing in number, popularity, and effect.

The following Journal was drawn up by Mr. Ellis, from minutes kept by himself, and by his associates on the tour, who subsequently gave it their approbation. The Report of the Deputation, which forms a convenient introduction to the main work, was written by another hand.

The Appendix was prepared by the Assistant Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions, who performed the duties of an editor, while the work was passing through the press: but, as those duties were performed amidst numerous cares and frequent interruptions, it will not be surprising if inaccuracies should

exist.

Should this volume receive the liberal patronage of the community, it will be an encouragement to print other works of the same general character. A suitable remuneration will also be afforded to the enterprising publishers, who have been at much expense for the engravings.