might have felt. To Mr. Crook I am principally indebted for the contents of the Letter referring to the religious classes, ceremonies, &c., of these islanders; and also, for facts of a similar nature, occasionally interspersed, which are not stated as passing under my own immediate observation. The minuteness of the details, in regard to dress, furniture, and comparatively trifling incident, given at the Sandwich Islands, may be thought by some. of my readers unworthy the space they occupy. My object in retaining them has not been their intrinsic worth, but their importance as data by which to estimate the true state of that nation. The impression conveyed by the assertions, that great success has attended the missionary efforts; that important changes have occurred; and that the people are in a very improved condition, is vague and indefinite: but these details-first recorded for the gratification of one to whom, from other considerations, they could not fail to be highly interesting—show, in a degree at least, in what that success consists; what the magnitude of the change taken place is; and what the extent of improvement when compared with the state in which the whole population was found by the missionaries in 1820. Should others, into whose hands these Volumes may fall, be disposed to imagine that the partiality which I confess myself to feel for the Islanders, proved a deceptive medium of observation in the views taken of their condition and prospects, I can only say, that gentlemen of our company, whose prejudices, previous to the visit of the Vincennes, were as adverse to a happy impression as any indulged by myself could be propitious to one that was favourable, have pronounced my statements, as seen by them both in manuscript and print, beneath the reality they are designed to portray. An interesting and valuable series of Official Reports of the cruise in the South Seas, has been furnished to the Navy Department, by the Commander of the Vincennes; and I am happy in the authority of asserting, that they fully substantiate the leading facts, incidents, and impressions contained in the present Work. The latter part of one of the letters from the Sandwich Islands, in which an allusion is made to M. Von Kotzebue's "New Voyage Round the World," it is proper to state, has been appended, from considerations that will be manifest in the perusal, to the facts preceding it, since the date of the original communication. In surrendering the Volumes to the public, I would only add, that should they on the one hand, be thought to possess any degree of interest, or to have the least valuable tendency upon the minds and hearts of those arrived to years of maturity, I shall be fully compensated for the labour of the publication; and on the other, should they be adjudged worthy of a place only on the humble shelves of a Sabbath School Library, my expectation of their merit will not be altogether disappointed; nor even then, I trust, will the chief motive leading to their appearance-the presentation of correct views, and the excitement of just feelings towards "the Isles of thE SEA"-be altogether defeated. NEW YORK, JUNE 8th, 1831. |