{"id":"01KG8AKRZV29YCY8H9J2QBZRB4","cid":"bafkreifbicz4w4jqnq6uv4fzhohg5kr4e3rr3igafdschsdczu56nexiae","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6664,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.152Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":6591,"text":"CHAPTER XLVIII.\r\nTAHITI AS IT IS\r\n\r\n\r\nAs in the last few chapters, several matters connected with the general\r\ncondition of the natives have been incidentally touched upon, it may be\r\nwell not to leave so important a subject in a state calculated to\r\nconvey erroneous impressions. Let us bestow upon it, therefore,\r\nsomething more than a mere cursory glance.\r\n\r\nBut in the first place, let it be distinctly understood that, in all I\r\nhave to say upon this subject, both here and elsewhere, I mean no harm\r\nto the missionaries nor their cause; I merely desire to set forth\r\nthings as they actually exist.\r\n\r\nOf the results which have flowed from the intercourse of foreigners\r\nwith the Polynesians, including the attempts to civilize and\r\nChristianize them by the missionaries, Tahiti, on many accounts, is\r\nobviously the fairest practical example. Indeed, it may now be asserted\r\nthat the experiment of Christianizing the Tahitians, and improving\r\ntheir social condition by the introduction of foreign customs, has been\r\nfully tried. The present generation have grown up under the auspices of\r\ntheir religious instructors. And although it may be urged that the\r\nlabours of the latter have at times been more or less obstructed by\r\nunprincipled foreigners, still, this in no wise renders Tahiti any the\r\nless a fair illustration; for, with obstacles like these, the\r\nmissionaries in Polynesia must always, and everywhere struggle.\r\n\r\nNearly sixty years have elapsed since the Tahitian mission was started;\r\nand, during this period, it has received the unceasing prayers and\r\ncontributions of its friends abroad. Nor has any enterprise of the kind\r\ncalled forth more devotion on the part of those directly employed in\r\nit.\r\n\r\nIt matters not that the earlier labourers in the work, although\r\nstrictly conscientious, were, as a class, ignorant, and, in many cases,\r\ndeplorably bigoted: such traits have, in some degree, characterized the\r\npioneers of all faiths. And although in zeal and disinterestedness the\r\nmissionaries now on the island are, perhaps, inferior to their\r\npredecessors, they have, nevertheless, in their own way at least,\r\nlaboured hard to make a Christian people of their charge.\r\n\r\nLet us now glance at the most obvious changes wrought in their\r\ncondition.\r\n\r\nThe entire system of idolatry has been done away; together with several\r\nbarbarous practices engrafted thereon. But this result is not so much\r\nto be ascribed to the missionaries, as to the civilizing effects of a\r\nlong and constant intercourse with whites of all nations; to whom, for\r\nmany years, Tahiti has been one of the principal places of resort in\r\nthe South Seas. At the Sandwich Islands, the potent institution of the\r\nTaboo, together with the entire paganism of the land, was utterly\r\nabolished by a voluntary act of the natives some time previous to the\r\narrival of the first missionaries among them.\r\n\r\nThe next most striking change in the Tahitians is this. From the\r\npermanent residence among them of influential and respectable\r\nforeigners, as well as from the frequent visits of ships-of-war,\r\nrecognizing the nationality of the island, its inhabitants are no\r\nlonger deemed fit subjects for the atrocities practised upon mere\r\nsavages; and hence, secure from retaliation, vessels of all kinds now\r\nenter their harbours with perfect safety.\r\n\r\nBut let us consider what results are directly ascribable to the\r\nmissionaries alone.\r\n\r\nIn all cases, they have striven hard to mitigate the evils resulting\r\nfrom the commerce with the whites in general. Such attempts, however,\r\nhave been rather injudicious, and often ineffectual: in truth, a\r\nbarrier almost insurmountable is presented in the dispositions of the\r\npeople themselves. Still, in this respect, the morality of the\r\nislanders is, upon the whole, improved by the presence of the\r\nmissionaries.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJK7HBXCCD7MHEN55KXEQ","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSKFG5TYC64GFT83KHWD","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.355Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.208Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}