In the large island of Faté or Vaté, Christian teachers have been landed at different times, but some have been killed and eaten, and others have died of disease. In 1858, however, three teachers, with their wives, were landed under encouraging circumstances. From Nina, a small island near Tanna, several of the natives, hearing of the wonderful things taking place on the latter island, proceeded thither to procure a teacher. In consequence of their application, in 1858, the John Williams took them two from Aneiteum, who are now labouring successfully among them.
The Loyalty group must be briefly noticed. Native teachers were landed in 1841, and after they had induced many natives to abandon heathenism, Messrs Jones and Creagh arrived in the island in 1854. Their labours have been blessed; the Gospels and other parts of the Scriptures have been printed in the Nengonese language, and upwards of three thousand of the inhabitants are under Christian instruction, although a large number of the natives still follow their heathen customs.
The mission in Lifu was not commenced till 1843, when native evangelists were landed, and in 1858 two European missionaries arrived to take charge of the work. The inhabitants amount to about ten thousand, and of these very few, if any, now remain heathens, though it is to be feared that the great mass of the converts can only be looked on as nominal Christians.
The small Britannia group, near New Caledonia, has been occupied by teachers from Rarotonga and Mars since 1837, but Roman Catholic priests have arrived on the principal island, sent, they say, by the French governor of New Caledonia. They have built a capital, called Porte de France, but it is a penal colony, and free emigrants have not been attracted to its shores.
The last islands visited by Captain Cook were those to which he gave the name of the Sandwich Islands, and which now form the small but independent kingdom of Hawaii, having a capital called Honolulu, with a population of eleven thousand, not less than a thousand of whom are white foreigners. With its well-paved, lighted streets, its king’s palace, its houses of parliament, its cathedral church, its numerous hotels, its police, and other accompaniments of high civilisation, it is difficult to imagine that a hundred years ago this was the home of tattooed savages. To Englishmen in advanced years, indeed, the murder of Captain Cook at Owhyhee seems like an event that happened in their own childhood. And, in truth, not fifty years ago the natives of Hawaii were ignorant and idolatrous heathens, while it is but as yesterday that a refined, elegant, and well-educated lady, the queen of those islands, was visiting England.
When Cook was killed Kalampupua was king. He was succeeded by his nephew, Kamehamea the First, who made himself sovereign of the entire group. When visited by Captain Vancouver, in 1793, it is said that he requested that Christian missionaries might be sent to him. Whether Captain Vancouver delivered the message to the English Government or not, no attention was paid to it. Captain Vancouver, however, returned the next year with some horned cattle and sheep, which he presented to the king, obtaining a promise that none should be killed for the space of ten years. This promise was faithfully kept; but so rapidly did the animals increase that they became exceedingly troublesome to the natives by injuring their fences and taro plantations. They were accordingly driven into the mountains, where they now form a source of considerable wealth to the nation.
Kamehamea was about to abolish the taboo system when he died in 1819, and was succeeded by his son Liholiho, who took the name of Kamehamea the Second. He carried into effect his father’s intention, and also destroyed his temples and gods.
In that very year the American Board of Missions resolved to send to the Sandwich Islands an efficient band of missionaries with three native youths who had been educated in the States. Joyful and totally unexpected news awaited them on their arrival. Idolatry was overthrown, and the king and most of his chiefs were ready to afford them protection and support. They had, however, an arduous task before them in their efforts to impart instruction to a population numbering at least one hundred thousand, dwelling in eight islands, with a superficial area of seven thousand square miles; Owhyhee alone, now written Hawaii, being four hundred and fifteen miles in circumference.
In 1824 there were fifty native teachers and two thousand scholars, and so rapidly did education advance, that in 1831 there were eleven hundred schools, in which fully seventeen hundred scholars had obtained the branches of a common education, and were able to read, write, and sum up simple accounts. The prime minister, seven leading chiefs, and the regent were members of the Christian Church; and a very decided change was manifest in the general population.
Within a few years the language was reduced to a written form, and two printing-presses were at work at Honolulu. A large edition of the Gospels in the Hawaii language, printed in the United States, was in circulation and there were no less than nine hundred schools and forty-five thousand scholars. In 1853, after a great awakening, there were above twenty-two thousand church members, and there were chapels at all the stations. One at Lahaina could hold three thousand persons.