of different nations concerning the degree of favor which they respectively enjoy under the government, the British complaining that the Americans have more than themselves, and the Americans, that the privileges enjoyed by the British, are much greater than theirs, and the French, that they are much worse off than either the British or Americans; yet all visitors agree in attributing to the foreign residents at Honolulu a degree of hospitality and good feeling not often enjoyed in any other part of the world. This virtue is not confined to the missionary families, but is a general characteristic of the foreign society. Strangers who come well recommended, are immediately introduced into society of a highly intellectual and polished character, consisting of consuls and other resident officers, naval captains and merchants, and American and English ladies, many of whom are highly accomplished, and possess greater personal charms than usually falls to the lot of even the fair sex. Embracing the missionary ladies, there are about thirty in Honolulu, whose presence would add polish to the very best society our country affords.

One characteristic of Hawaiian society is peculiarly striking. It is the almost universal regard paid to the Sabbath. Whether this arises from a deep religious feeling or from custom, I cannot say; but certainly there are few places of the same extent where more decency and order are observed on this day than are apparent in Honolulu. With the exception of a few of the oldest residents, who have always habituated themselves to the license and misrule of heathenism, all the foreign residents are regular in their attendance at the house of God. Indeed, it is very seldom that the quiet of the Sabbath is broken, either by strangers or the natives themselves.

Though there is a class in Honolulu that "look into the cup when it is red, that continue till night, till wine inflame them," yet I should not be doing justice to the society of the place, if I did not bear witness to the general prevalence of temperance. During the three

months which I have spent on the islands, I have seldom seen a drunken man, either native or foreigner. There are no beggars parading the streets, few petty thefts committed, no robberies, seldom an assault or act of violence, unless provoked by a white man. Yet, notwithstanding all this, and all that has been done for their benefit, the state of the native Hawaiians is still truly deplorable. To call them a christianized, civilized, happy, and prosperous people, would be to mislead the public mind in relation to their true condition. All these terms when applied to the Hawaiians, should be greatly qualified. Their state appears to be that spoken of by the prophet Zechariah as a day which should be neither light nor dark, with this difference, perhaps, that in the case of the Hawaiians, there is still more of night than of day, more of darkness than of light. To an inquiry which I made of the Rev. Lowel Smith, one of the missionaries in Honolulu, concerning the prosperity of the natives, I received this reply: "The evident tendency of things is downward." Downward it is rapidly, in point of numbers, and if the ratio of decrease shall continue the same for only a few years, it does not require the eye of a prophet to see what will be the result.

The epitaph of the nation will be written, and Anglo Saxons will convert the islands into another West Indies.

CHAPTER XII.

Return to Oregon - Embarkation - Passengers

Horace Holden - Thrilling story

The whaleman - Voyage - Arrival in the Columbia River - Disagreeable navigation - Yearly meeting of the Missionaries - Appointments - Arrival of Rev. George Gang Reasons for his appointment Great changes Mr. Lee

George Abernethy - Powers of the new Superintendent - Special meeting

Voyage Laymen dismissed - Miscellaneous - Transporting supplies - Another meeting Oregon Institute - Finances of the Mission brought to a close - Num. ber of Missionaries returned - Number remaining in the field.

ON the morning of the 3rd day of April, it was announced by Captain Couch that the Chenamus was again ready for sea, and that the passengers were expected to be on board at nine o'clock. According to the arrangement before Mr. Lee's departure, we had secured our passage, and were ready to obey the summons to embark, and the following evening we had lost sight of the beautiful "Isles of the South," and were dancing northward over the waves of the great Pacific. Among our fellow passengers were Dr. J. L. Babcock and family, who were returning to Oregon, to resume their places in the mission, and Mr. Horace Holden and family, who had resided some time on the island of Kauai, where they had been employed in the manufacture of sugar. He had formerly been employed in the whaling business, and on one of his voyages his vessel was wrecked, and he was cast away, with a few of his companions, on one of the Pelew Islands.

Nearly all his fellow sufferers were cruelly murdered by the savages before his eyes, and he saved himself from the same fate only by submitting without resistance, to all the indignities and cruelties that savage ingenuity could invent to torment a man without killing him. They stripped him of his clothing, and then, with

a kind of pinchers, pulled every hair from his body; they bound him down to the ground, and then in a most cruel manner, tattooed upon his breast and arms, the most hideous and indelible figures, and then pronounced him worthy to live and be their slave. Remaining with them for more than a year, at length, to his inexpressible joy, a vessel visited the island, and he was released from his intolerable wretchedness. Returning to Boston, he published a brief narrative of his shipwreck and captivity, and soon after married, and with his wife sailed for the Sandwich Islands. With an interesting family he now goes to Oregon with the intention of spending the remainder of his life.

The third day from Oahu we were boarded by Captain Sawyer, a whaleman, whose vessel had sprung a leak so that it required the constant exertions of his men at pumping, to keep her afloat. The Captain told us that if the leak increased it was doubtful whether he succeeded in getting her into port, but said he should do his utmost to accomplish it. He said he had pumped out of her "all of the Pacific Ocean," and when he left he requested us to report him the first opportunity, that if he failed in getting her in, it would be known what had become of him.

After this nothing especial transpired on our voyage demanding notice; the wind and weather were favorable so that we made fine progress every day, and on the twentieth, after leaving port, we made the high lands north of the mouth of the Columbia River.

Crossing the bar in safety, in a few hours we came to anchor in the river off Fort George, where we found it exceedingly pleasant again to set our feet on terra firma. Weighing anchor the following day, we ascended the Columbia, but owing to the intricacy of the navigation, we did not gain the mouth of the Wallamette River, until three days after. So slow was our progress in the brig that Dr. Babcock, Mr. Holden and myself, requested and obtained the use of the barge, to ascend the river to the Wallamette Falls. Taking our families with us, we labored with the car until towards evening, when we

arrived at the foot of the strong rapids, one mile below the falls. Unable to ascend the rapids with the use of our oars, we were obliged to get into the river where the water was up to our waists, and almost as cold as ice, and draw up the boat by main strength. In doing this we were obliged to remain in the water for more than an hour, and, until we became so benumbed that we could scarcely stand upon our feet. However, we gained the head of the rapids in safety, and in a half an hour after, were comfortably seated by the fireside of our good friends, Mr. and Mrs. George Abernethy, of the Oregon mission.

The mission had been left by Mr. Lee, under the superintendency of Rev. David Leslie; and as the yearly meeting of the missionaries took place soon after our arrival, it was arranged for me to supply Oregon City and Tuality Plains with preaching, while Mr. Leslie supplied the Wallamette settlement, and Mr. Waller was to preach to the Indians along the Wallamette River, Mr. Parrish to supply the station on Clatsop Plains, and Mr. Perkins still to remain at the Dalls.

Four missionaries had returned to the United States, the station at Puget's Sound had been abandoned, and the four appointments mentioned above connected with the mission school and the various secular departments, constituted the Oregon mission, when the Rev. George Gary, the newly appointed superintendent, arrived at Wallamette Falls on the 1st day of June, 1844.

Mr. Gary had been appointed to supercede Mr. Lee in the superintendency of the mission in consequence of the dissatisfaction of the Board in New York with the latter, arising from the supposition founded in the statements of missionaries, oral and written, that they "had been misled as to the necessity of so great a number of missionaries in Oregon," and from the to them, "unaccountable fact that they had not been able to obtain any satisfactory report of the manner in which the large appropriations to the late. reinforcement had been disbursed." These objections, however valid in the estimation of the Board, should not be considered as any