Polynesian Research Society Islands Author:Ellis Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: PRESENT OF A BRITISH SCHOONER. 33 CHAP. II. Present from the British government to the king of the Sandwich Islands—Voyage to Hawaii—Appearance of the isla... more »nd—Intercourse with the people—Kearakakua bay—Visit to Kuakini the governor—Voyage to Oahu —Welcome from the American Missionaries—Detention in Oahu—Journeys and endeavours to instruct the people—Invitation to reside among them—Labours of Auna and native teachers—Destruction of idols—Observance of the sabbath by the king and chiefs—Attention to religion—Karaimoku—Religious services in the families of the principal chiefs—Effects of our visit— Departure for the Society Islands—Return to Oahu— Arrival of Missionaries—Objects of the projected touY of Hawaii—Remarks on the orthography of native words. Tamehameha, who had governed the islands thirty years, and whose decease had taken place less than twelve months before the arrival of tli£ Missionaries, had invariably rendered the most promptand acceptable aid to those English vessels which had touched at the islands. In return for the friendship so uniformly manifested, the British government instructed the governor of New South Wales to order a schooner to be built at Port Jackson, and sent as a present to the king of the Sandwich Islands. Jn the month of February, 1822, his majesty's colonial cutter, Mermaid, having in charge the vessel designed for the king of Hawaii, put into the harbour of Huahine for refreshments. The captain of theMermaid offered a passage either to the deputation from the London Missionary Society, then at Huahiue, or to any of the Missionaries who might wish to visit the Sandwich Islands. We had long been anxious to establish a mission among the Marquesas; and as he intended touching at those islands on his return, it appeared a very favourable opp...« less