existence somewhere between the fourth and tenth centuries of the Christian era, and goes so far as to state the times at which the dispersion took place, and its causes.

We have no inclination to enlarge upon the probabilities of the truth of any of these theories; and it would, moreover, be obviously impossible for us within any space which we can appropriate for the purpose, to enter in detail upon the various interesting topics suggested by the history, present condition, and prospects of the inhabitants of the numerous islands in the Pacific Ocean. We must therefore at once narrow the sphere of our remarks to the condition of a few of the islands in Eastern Oceanica, or what has usually been denominated Polynesia. Till within a very few years the civilized world has known about as little of these islands as they have of the moon. And good reasons for it. It is not long since commercial enterprise opened a trade with the Northwest Coast of America. Previously to this, the productions of the islands adjacent were too little known to attract any attention on their own account, and, consequently, no vessels touched at them, except those traversing the ocean on voyages of discovery. Moreover, the fate of the most successful explorer of these regions did not probably increase the intrepidity of his successors. They generally kept themselves pretty close to the decks of their own vessels, and made most of their discoveries through their spy-glasses,-not very good instruments, we are persuaded, to study geography or human character with. They observed a little, guessed a good deal, and, in the absence of more authentic facts, made up large and quite interesting books. But there was a vagueness about all their accounts of the numbers of the inhabitants on different islands, and of their manners and customs, which plainly showed, that they were not founded on accurate observation. And the accounts, moreover, of each successive discoverer, differed so widely from all who had preceded him, as to bring doubt upon the whole, and destroy in a great degree the public interest and sympathy in this degraded class of the human race.

But within the last five and twenty or thirty years, perhaps we should say a much shorter period, the intelligence from these islands has assumed a more distinct and authentic form. The intercourse between the Northwest Coast and China, growing out of the fur-trade, and carried on principally by enterprising merchants of Salem, of this city, and New York, has occasioned many visits to different islands, and each one has added something to our knowledge of the true character of the inhabi

tants. But for almost all we know of the present condition of these islands, we are indebted to the English and American missionaries. They have for many years been established on some of the islands, and have therefore enjoyed peculiar opportunities for observation, and for becoming thoroughly acquainted with the whole subject. They have explored the different islands with greater minuteness, and have examined the institutions peculiar to them with more care than has been done by any others. And we are persuaded from their accounts, as well as from all other accounts which we can gather, that moral and political changes have been going on, principally by their agency, upon which neither the philosopher, the philanthropist, nor the Christian can look with indifference.

The principal and most successful missionary establishments are on the Society Islands and the Sandwich Islands. The former was made by the London Missionary Society in 1797; and the latter by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, in 1820. The effect produced by the English missionaries upon the inhabitants of the Society Islands, for the first fifteen years, was very inconsiderable; so inconsiderable, indeed, that the missionaries themselves began to despair, and their patrons to hesitate in the prosecution of their benevolent designs. But about ten years ago, some impression was apparently made, and since that time their labours have almost wholly transformed the moral and political character of these islands, and promise the happiest results to the other islands in the same seas. The want of greater success in the early efforts of the missionaries seems mainly to be attributable to two causes; one growing out of a mistake in the points to which they gave their first and almost undivided attention; and the other, probably, unavoidable from the nature of the undertaking. They attempted to christianize the savages by efforts too direct; without sufficient attention to the preliminary steps of enlightening and civilizing them. And, secondly, the want of a common language, or an organ of communication between the missionaries and the natives, presented obstacles to their success, which could not be suddenly removed. The natives would not learn the language of their teachers, and the teachers could not, at once, learn that of the natives. No progress of course could be made till this difficulty could be surmounted. And this was no easy matter. It was a more difficult and laborious task than might at first be imagined to reduce the language of a tribe of savages, which had never been written, to a clear and consistent

form; to catch the sounds of words uttered without much distinctness of articulation, and with no great uniformity of pronunciation, and express them accurately with characters, which had never before been used in such combinations. But this object has been in some good degree attained. A grammar of the language was published by the missionaries in 1823. And several books have since been printed on the islands, and circulated among the natives; so that the same difficulty cannot occur again in the same degree, even if the task of civilization should be undertaken by new and inexperienced men; seeing that they would have the advantage of printed books to aid them in the acquisition of the language.

We have stated in another part of this article, on the authority of M. Malte-Brun, and those from whom he derived his facts, that essentially the same language prevails over the greater part of Eastern as well as Northwestern Oceanica. This statement derives confirmation from the introductory remarks prefixed to the grammar printed by the English missionaries at the Society Islands, although a few exceptions to the rule are there made as to particular islands. The principal dialects are stated to be the Hawaiian, or that of the Sandwich Islands; the Marquesan; that of New Zealand; the Tongatabuan, or that of the Friendly Islands; and the Tahitian. Of all of these dialects, we believe. grammars have now been published. The other dialects, so far as they are known, bear more or less resemblance, some to one and some to another of those above named; and even those which differ most from each other are so analogous, that a person who understands one of them will find but little difficulty in making himself understood by natives who speak the others. The tendency of the intercourse which is now kept up by visits and correspondence between the natives of the different clusters of islands undoubtedly will be to render the dialects still more similar to each other.

Since the establishment of a printing-press on the Society Islands, it is said by missionaries, that more than half of the whole population, which is estimated now to amount to no more than twenty thousand, have learned to read intelligibly, and that many have acquired the art of writing their language, and some have made good progress in arithmetic. Three thousand

children and adults are found in the schools, many of which are now taught by natives; and we have seen in a late English publication an account of the building of a cotton factory at Eimeo, and the organization of an Auxiliary Missionary Society among

the natives, which promised to be efficient in diffusing knowledge among the neighbouring clusters of islands. The condition of the Society Islanders has without doubt undergone a most salutary change. Their devastating wars, their human sacrifices, and their brutal customs, so shocking to humanity that we cannot even describe them, and which at one period threatened the extinction of the race, have been abolished, and the arts of peace, and many of the happy institutions of civilized life have been introduced, and have taken root among them.

The American missionaries at the Sandwich Islands have been hardly less successful. They arrived at the islands in April, 1820; and, although the progress was inconsiderable at first, while they were settling the orthography of the language, they have since produced a very obvious and happy effect upon the condition of the inhabitants. In 1822, they were joined by the Rev. William Ellis, an English missionary, who had passed several years at the Society Islands. This gentleman seems to have been very efficient, and to have made himself eminently useful to the American missionaries, on account of the intimate knowledge he had acquired of the native character and language. The Sandwich Islands are a cluster of ten in number, eight of which are inhabited, varying in size from sixty to four thousand square miles. The climate is represented as healthy; the average temperature of August, the warmest month in the season, was, in 1821, 79°, and that of January, the coldest month, was, in 1822, 70° Fahrenheit. Parts of the territory are represented as extremely fertile, although there is a great scarcity of fresh water; and the digging of wells is attended with great labour on account of the thick strata of lava, which seem to have been deposited at some period on almost every part of the islands. None of the islands, however, have been very minutely examined, except Hawaii, the largest of the group. This island was explored by four of the missionaries, of whom Mr Ellis was one, with a view to ascertain the number and condition of the inhabitants, and the most advantageous positions to be occupied by the missionary families. They commenced their tour early in the summer of 1823, and completed it in a little more than two months. The journal of this tour, drawn up by Mr Ellis, and subsequently approved by his companions, forms the subject of this volume. From such observations as they were able to make, they estimate the whole number of inhabitants on the single island of Hawaii, to be eighty-five thousand; and these, from the missionary accounts, appear to be

generally settled upon the border of the island, leaving the interior comparatively uninhabited.

The deputation, previously to their expedition, assembled at Kairua, the largest village upon the island, situated on the west side, and estimated to contain somewhat more than twenty-five hundred inhabitants. Here was exhibited a specimen of native dancing.

The five musicians first seated themselves on the ground, and spread a piece of folded cloth in the sand before them. Their instrument was a large calabash, or rather two, one of an oval shape, about three feet high, the other perfectly round, very neatly fastened to it, having also an aperture about three inches in diameter at the top. Each musician held his instrument before him with both his hands, and produced his music by striking it on the ground where he had laid the piece of cloth, and beating it with his fingers, or the palms of his hands. As soon as they began to sound their calabashes, the dancer, a young man about the middle stature, advanced through the opening crowd. His jet black hair hung in loose and flowing ringlets down his naked shoulders, his necklace was made of a vast number of strings of nicely braided human hair tied together behind, while a paraoa, (an ornament made of a whale's tooth), hung pendant from it on his breast. His wrists were ornamented with bracelets formed of polished tusks of a hog, and his ancles with loose buskins thickly set with dog's teeth, the rattle of which kept time with the music of the calabash drum during the dance. A beautiful yellow tapa was tastefully fastened around his loins, reaching to his knees. He began his dance just in front of the musicians, and moved forwards and backwards across the ring, occasionally cantilating the achievements of former kings of Hawaii. The governor sat at the end of the ring opposite to the musicians, and appeared gratified with the performance, which continued until dark.

The following is a description of an interesting scene of native industry.

This morning we perceived Keoua, the Governor's wife, and her female attendants, with about forty other women, under the pleasant shade of a beautiful clump of kou trees, employed in stripping off the bark from bundles of wauti sticks, for the purpose of making cloth with it. The sticks were generally from six to ten feet long, and about an inch in diameter at the thickest end. They first cut the bark the whole length of the stick, with a sharp serrated shell, and having carefully peeled it off, roll it into small coils, the inner bark being outside. In this state it is left some time to make it flat and smooth. Keoua not only worked herself,