They called upon the governor of the French protectorate and tried to obtain permission to visit Tubuai, a distant island, to which place they had a chance of obtaining free passage, but were refused permission, as the governor expressed fear of the effect of their preaching. He required that they furnish him a detailed statement of the principles they taught and the methods and policy they pursued in their missionary work, all of which, however, failed to satisfy the governor that he could safely trust them. The governor then prepared a list of questions for the Elders to answer and pledges for them to subscribe to, all of which they complied with, but all to no avail, for the governor had evidently determined not to allow them to do any proselyting.

Elder Brown made the acquaintance of many ministers and missionaries of other creeds, some of whom professed to have a feeling of friendship for him and his work, but who secretly exerted all their powers and influence to oppose him and instigate the government to curtail his liberties and prevent the spread of the Gospel. Upon one occasion he was visited by two very pretty young native women who were attractively dressed and highly perfumed, and who expressed a desire to investigate "Mormonism." He received them cordially and offered to afford them any information he could, but was blessed with the spirit of discernment and impressed with the fact that they were not sincere in their profession, but had, in fact, come for the purpose of seducing him. He surprised them by telling them of his suspicion as to the purpose of their visit, and that certain rival ministers had induced them to come to him, suggesting to them that Elder Brown was hypocritical in his profession of religion, and in reality a licentious man who would readily succumb to the cunning wiles of lewd women and, by being caught in the trap devised by them, have his reputation blasted and his missionary work effectually stopped by the exposure that would follow. The women acknowledged that he had correctly discerned and described the cause and purpose of their visit and the identity of its instigators, and on being warned to repent and assured that "Mormon" missionaries were not such characters as they had been led to suppose, the women abandoned the scheme to which they had lent themselves, and left him.

The first baptism in which Elder Brown officiated on the islands was that of a highly educated and influential young native woman who had become convinced of the truth of the principles he taught and applied to him to baptize her. She was so ill that she had to be carried into the water, but when she was baptized she was immediately healed and walked out of the water without help. The ministers raised a great outcry about his endangering her life by immersing her, and soon had the police searching for him for the purpose of placing him under arrest. The officers failed to find him, although he made no effort to evade them, and the excitement over the baptism of the young woman gradually subsided.

Failing to get the consent of the governor or other officials for them to engage in missionary labor, and tiring of the restraint of remaining in comparative idleness in the region of Papeete, the Elders decided to scatter out and do missionary work as they might find opportunity.

While Elder Brown was on his way to Tubuai, where he was appointed to preside, the boat upon which he was making the voyage had to put into the harbor of the island of Laivavai to seek refuge from a storm. He mentions that the island was only four miles in length and two in width, and had a population of three hundred and eighty-three people. He described them as having the wildest and fiercest look of any that he had ever met. However, he had no cause to complain of their treatment at the time. His next stop was on the island of Tubuai, which is only twelve or fifteen miles in length, and had a population of four hundred. It was upon this island that the gospel was first introduced. That was in July, 1844, the missionaries being Addison Pratt, Noah Rogers and B. F. Grouard, who were sent on a mission from Nauvoo by the Prophet Joseph Smith, in 1843. Knowlton F. Hanks was also one of the party called to fill this mission, but he died during the voyage to his field of labor. While attempting to effect a landing, the boat had the narrowest possible escape from being wrecked upon a coral reef. As it was, the passengers were spilled into the raging billows among crags and rocks, but were fortunate in escaping serious injury.

After laboring for awhile on the island of Tubuai, he proceeded to Anaa, in the Tuamotu group. A somewhat unusual incident occured when Elder Brown and a number of other passengers were about to land at Tuuhora on the island of Auaa. As they neared the shore a native came bounding through the water until he reached the stern of the boat where Elder Brown was seated. Then he reached out his hand which had in it five pearls wrapped in a small rag, saying at the same time: "Here, I have seen you before. You have come to be our president, for you have been shown to me in a dream. Welcome, welcome to our land!" He then turned his broad, muscular back towards Elder Brown and invited the missionary to mount and be carried ashore. The Elder gladly did so, and notwithstanding he was an unusually large man, he was carried with ease to the shore, where he was joyfully greeted by a goodly number of church members who soon prepared a feast of welcome for him.

[CHAPTER II.]

CATHOLIC PRIESTS JEALOUS OF HIS SUCCESS—ARRESTED ON A TRUMPED-UP CHARGE—TRIED BEFORE GOVERNOR'S AID-DE-CAMP—FRIGHTFUL SCENE AMONG A SCHOOL OF WHALES—FARCE OF A TRIAL BEFORE THE GOVERNOR OF THE PROTECTORATE—INSPIRED TO PLEAD HIS OWN CAUSE—IMPRESSION MADE UPON THE GOVERNOR—AMERICAN CONSUL'S FRIENDLY ACT—BANISHED FROM TAHITI—BEFRIENDED BY A QUEEN.

The natives were eager for the Gospel, and he lost no time in commencing the work of proselyting among them. He also engaged in conducting day schools among the natives with good effect, the natives being anxious to attend and quick to learn. The Catholic priests of the region, however, who were making almost frantic efforts to proselyte as well as to establish schools in imitation of those of Elder Brown, were so jealous of his success and so chagrined at their own failure, that they set about devising schemes to discredit Elder Brown and gain an advantage over him. They even went to the extreme of taking forcible possession of a meeting house built and exclusively owned by the Latter-day Saints, and trying to monopolize the use of it. They presumed upon their influence with the officers of the French protectorate to sustain them in this arbitrary and high-handed conduct, and continued it even in the face of a decision against them, when the officers could find no warrant even in the rank anti-"Mormon" prejudice then prevailing for favoring the priests, much as they desired to do so.

While at Putuhara, on the island of Anaa, Elder Brown was arrested on a trumped-up charge and haled before the governor's aid-de camp, who had arrived on the French war frigate "Durance." It was soon evident that the Catholic priests had conspired to entrap him for the purpose of breaking down his influence with the natives and closing his schools. When the charges, which were both frivolous and absurd, were read to him he plead not guilty and asked the privilege of being tried in the vicinity, where he felt sure he could soon establish his innocence. This privilege was refused on the plea that his offense was too great and he was too dangerous to be tried before any less personage than the governor. He would therefore have to go to Tahiti and appear before the governor. After being compelled to witness the most shameless and revolting immorality on the part of the guard who had him in charge he was thrust into a filthy and foul smelling old oil boat and thus conveyed to the war frigate, which was lying off shore, there being no harbor or anchorage at that island. While the boat was proceeding to the frigate it ran into a school of whales that numbered hundreds if not thousands. The native oarsmen propelling the boat were almost paralyzed with fear, and withdrew their oars and scarcely dared to breath while the whales were passing. Elder Brown in relating the circumstance admitted that although he had been in a great many dangerous places he had never felt the hair on his head so much inclined to stand on end before as while witnessing the passing of those huge sea monsters, so close as to be touched with the hand, and having the power if they had chosen to exert it, to smash the boat and send its passengers into eternity by a mere whisk of the tail.