University of Virginia Library

48. CHAPTER XLVIII.

As in the last few chapters, several matters connected with
the general condition of the natives have been incidentally
touched upon, it may be well not to leave so important a subject
in a state calculated to convey erroneous impressions.
Let us bestow upon it, therefore, something more than a mere
cursory glance.

But in the first place, let it be distinctly understood, that in
all I have to say upon this subject, both here and elsewhere, I
mean no harm to the missionaries nor their cause; I merely
desire to set forth things as they actually exist.

Of the results which have flowed from the intercourse of
foreigners with the Polynesians, including the attempts to civilize
and christianize them by the missionaries, Tahiti, on many
accounts, is obviously the fairest practical example. Indeed, it
may now be asserted, that the experiment of christianizing the
Tahitians, and improving their social condition by the introduction
of foreign customs, has been fully tried. The present
generation have grown up under the auspices of their religious
instructors. And although it may be urged, that the labors of
the latter have at times been more or less obstructed by unprincipled
foreigners, still, this in no wise renders Tahiti any
the less a fair illustration; for, with obstacles like these, the
missionaries in Polynesia must always, and everywhere struggle.

Nearly sixty years have elapsed since the Tahitian mission
was started; and during this period, it has received the unceasing

prayers and contributions of its friends abroad. Nor
has any enterprise of the kind called forth more devotion on
the part of those directly employed in it.

It matters not, that the earlier laborers in the work, although
strictly conscientious, were, as a class, ignorant, and, in many
cases, deplorably bigoted: such traits have, in some degree,
characterized the pioneers of all faiths. And although in zeal
and disinterestedness, the missionaries now on the island are,
perhaps, inferior to their predecessors, they have, nevertheless,
in their own way at least, labored hard to make a Christian
people of their charge.

Let us now glance at the most obvious changes wrought in
their condition.

The entire system of idolatry has been done away; together
with several barbarous practices engrafted thereon. But this
result is not so much to be ascribed to the missionaries, as to
the civilizing effects of a long and constant intercourse with
whites of all nations; to whom, for many years, Tahiti has been
one of the principal places of resort in the South Seas. At the
Sandwich Islands, the potent institution of the Taboo, together
with the entire paganism of the land, was utterly abolished by a
voluntary act of the natives, some time previous to the arrival
of the first missionaries among them.

The next most striking change in the Tahitians is this. From
the permanent residence among them of influential and respectable
foreigners, as well as from the frequent visits of ships-of-war,
recognizing the nationality of the island, its inhabitants are no
longer deemed fit subjects for the atrocities practiced upon
mere savages; and hence, secure from retaliation, vessels of all
kinds now enter their harbors with perfect safety.

But let us consider what results are directly ascribable to the
missionaries alone.

In all cases, they have striven hard to mitigate the evils resulting

from the commerce with the whites in general. Such
attempts, however, have been rather injudicious, and often
ineffectual: in truth, a barrier almost insurmountable is presented
in the dispositions of the people themselves. Still, in
this respect, the morality of the islanders is, upon the whole,
improved by the presence of the missionaries.

But the greatest achievement of the latter, and one which in
itself is most hopeful and gratifying is, that they have translated
the entire Bible into the language of the island; and I have
myself known several who were able to read it with facility.
They have also established churches, and schools for both children
and adults; the latter, I regret to say, are now much
neglected; which must be ascribed, in a great measure, to the
disorders growing out of the proceedings of the French.

It were unnecessary here, to enter diffusely into matters connected
with the internal government of the Tahitian churches
and schools. Nor, upon this head, is my information copious
enough to warrant me in presenting details. But we do not
need them. We are merely considering general results, as
made apparent in the moral and religious condition of the
island at large.

Upon a subject like this, however, it would be altogether too
assuming for a single individual to decide; and so, in place of
my own random observations, which may be found elsewhere, I
will here present those of several known authors, made under
various circumstances, at different periods, and down to a comparative
late date. A few very brief extracts will enable the
reader to mark for himself what progressive improvement, if
any, has taken place.

Nor must it be overlooked, that of these authorities, the
two first in order are largely quoted by the Right Reverend
M. Russell, in a work composed for the express purpose of
imparting information on the subject of Christian missions

in Polynesia. And he frankly acknowledges, moreover, that
they are such as “can not fail to have great weight with the
public.”[9]

After alluding to the manifold evils entailed upon the natives
by foreigners, and their singularly inert condition; and after
somewhat too severely denouncing the undeniable errors of the
mission, Kotzebue, the Russian navigator, says, “A religion
like this, which forbids every innocent pleasure, and cramps or
annihilates every mental power, is a libel on the divine founder
of Christianity. It is true, that the religion of the missionaries
has, with a great deal of evil, effected some good. It has restrained
the vices of theft and incontinence; but it has given
birth to ignorance, hypocrisy, and a hatred of all other modes
of faith, which was once foreign to the open and benevolent
character of the Tahitian.”[10]

Captain Beechy says, that while at Tahiti, he saw scenes
“which must have convinced the greatest skeptic of the thoroughly
immoral condition of the people, and which would force
him to conclude, as Turnbull[11] did, many years previous, that
their intercourse with the Europeans had tended to debase,
rather than exalt their condition.”[12]

About the year 1834, Daniel Wheeler, an honest-hearted
Quaker, prompted by motives of the purest philanthropy, visited,
in a vessel of his own, most of the missionary settlements

in the South Seas. He remained some time at Tahiti; receiving
the hospitalities of the missionaries there, and, from time to
time, exhorting the natives.

After bewailing their social condition, he frankly says of their
religious state, “Certainly, appearances are unpromising; and
however unwilling to adopt such a conclusion, there is reason
to apprehend, that Christian principle is a great rarity.”[13]

Such, then, is the testimony of good and unbiased men, who
have been upon the spot; but, how comes it to differ so widely
from impressions of others at home? Simply thus: instead of
estimating the result of missionary labors by the number of
heathens who have actually been made to understand and practice
(in some measure, at least) the precepts of Christianity,
this result has been unwarrantably inferred from the number
of those, who, without any understanding of these things, have
in any way been induced to abandon idolatry and conform to
certain outward observances.

By authority of some kind or other, exerted upon the natives
through their chiefs, and prompted by the hope of some worldly
benefit to the latter, and not by appeals to the reason, have conversions
in Polynesia been in most cases brought about.

Even in one or two instances—so often held up as wonderful
examples of divine power—where the natives have
impulsively burned their idols, and rushed to the waters of
baptism, the very suddenness of the change has but indicated
its unsoundness. Williams, the martyr of Erromanga, relates
an instance where the inhabitants of an island professing Christianity,
voluntarily assembled, and solemnly revived all their
heathen customs.

All the world over, facts are more eloquent than words; and
the following will show in what estimation the missionaries

themselves hold the present state of Christianity and morals
among the converted Polynesians.

On the island of Imeeo (attached to the Tahitian mission),
is a seminary under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Simpson and
wife, for the education of the children of the missionaries, exclusively.
Sent home—in many cases, at a very early age—to
finish their education, the pupils here are taught nothing but the
rudiments of knowledge; nothing more than may be learned in
the native schools. Notwithstanding this, the two races are
kept as far as possible from associating; the avowed reason
being, to preserve the young whites from moral contamination.
The better to insure this end, every effort is made to prevent
them from acquiring the native language.

They went even further at the Sandwich Islands; where, a
few years ago, a play-ground for the children of the missionaries
was inclosed with a fence many feet high, the more
effectually to exclude the wicked little Hawaiians.

And yet, strange as it may seem, the depravity among the
Polynesians, which renders precautions like these necessary,
was in a measure unknown before their intercourse with the
whites. The excellent Captain Wilson, who took the first missionaries
out to Tahiti, affirms, that the people of that island
had, in many things, “more refined ideas of decency than ourselves.”[14]
Vancouver, also, has some noteworthy ideas on this
subject, respecting the Sandwich Islanders.[15]

That the immorality alluded to is continually increasing, is
plainly shown in the numerous, severe, and perpetually violated
laws against licentiousness of all kinds, in both groups of
islands.

It is hardly to be expected, that the missionaries would send
home accounts of this state of things. Hence, Captain Beechy,

in alluding to the “Polynesian Researches” of Ellis, says, that
the author has impressed his readers with a far more elevated
idea of the moral condition of the Tahitians, and the degree of
civilization to which they have attained, than they deserve; or,
at least, than the facts which came under his observation, authorized.
He then goes on to say, that in his intercourse with the
islanders, “they had no fear of him, and consequently acted
from the impulse of their natural feelings; so that he was the
better enabled to obtain a correct knowledge of their real disposition
and habits.[16]

From my own familiar intercourse with the natives, this last
reflection still more forcibly applies to myself.