{"id":"01KG8AKSKF92DBQQA4HPQJKV0N","cid":"bafkreih52hzsmkoekyabuqx2zg32jzwitsiqofji2dba2arzjwmxgou7pa","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":6780,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.152Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":6716,"text":"most of the missionary settlements in the South Seas. He remained some\r\ntime at Tahiti; receiving the hospitalities of the missionaries there,\r\nand, from time to time, exhorting the natives.\r\n\r\nAfter bewailing their social condition, he frankly says of their\r\nreligious state, “Certainly, appearances are unpromising; and however\r\nunwilling to adopt such a conclusion, there is reason to apprehend that\r\nChristian principle is a great rarity.”\r\n\r\nSuch, then, is the testimony of good and unbiassed men, who have been\r\nupon the spot; but, how comes it to differ so widely from impressions\r\nof others at home? Simply thus: instead of estimating the result of\r\nmissionary labours by the number of heathens who have actually been\r\nmade to understand and practise (in some measure at least) the precepts\r\nof Christianity, this result has been unwarrantably inferred from the\r\nnumber of those who, without any understanding of these things, have in\r\nany way been induced to abandon idolatry and conform to certain outward\r\nobservances.\r\n\r\nBy authority of some kind or other, exerted upon the natives through\r\ntheir chiefs, and prompted by the hope of some worldly benefit to the\r\nlatter, and not by appeals to the reason, have conversions in Polynesia\r\nbeen in most cases brought about.\r\n\r\nEven in one or two instances—so often held up as wonderful examples of\r\ndivine power—where the natives have impulsively burned their idols, and\r\nrushed to the waters of baptism, the very suddenness of the change has\r\nbut indicated its unsoundness. Williams, the martyr of Erromanga,\r\nrelates an instance where the inhabitants of an island professing\r\nChristianity voluntarily assembled, and solemnly revived all their\r\nheathen customs.\r\n\r\nAll the world over, facts are more eloquent than words; the following\r\nwill show in what estimation the missionaries themselves hold the\r\npresent state of Christianity and morals among the converted\r\nPolynesians.\r\n\r\nOn the island of Imeeo (attached to the Tahitian mission) is a seminary\r\nunder the charge of the Rev. Mr. Simpson and wife, for the education of\r\nthe children of the missionaries, exclusively. Sent home—in many cases,\r\nat a very early age—to finish their education, the pupils here are\r\ntaught nothing but the rudiments of knowledge; nothing more than may be\r\nlearned in the native schools. Notwithstanding this, the two races are\r\nkept as far as possible from associating; the avowed reason being to\r\npreserve the young whites from moral contamination. The better to\r\ninsure this end, every effort is made to prevent them from acquiring\r\nthe native language.\r\n\r\nThey went even further at the Sandwich Islands; where, a few years ago,\r\na playground for the children of the missionaries was inclosed with a\r\nfence many feet high, the more effectually to exclude the wicked little\r\nHawaiians.\r\n\r\nAnd yet, strange as it may seem, the depravity among the Polynesians,\r\nwhich renders precautions like these necessary, was in a measure\r\nunknown before their intercourse with the whites. The excellent Captain\r\nWilson, who took the first missionaries out to Tahiti, affirms that the\r\npeople of that island had, in many things, “more refined ideas of\r\ndecency than ourselves.” Vancouver, also, has some noteworthy ideas on\r\nthis subject, respecting the Sandwich Islanders.\r\n\r\nThat the immorality alluded to is continually increasing is plainly\r\nshown in the numerous, severe, and perpetually violated laws against\r\nlicentiousness of all kinds in both groups of islands.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"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":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG8AKSKFPDE53H4NQ217WDSG","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.983Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:29.450Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}