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_ AS IN the last few chapters, several matters connected with the
general condition of the natives have been incidentally touched upon,
it may be well not to leave so important a subject in a state
calculated to convey erroneous impressions. Let us bestow upon it,
therefore, something more than a mere cursory glance.
But in the first place, let it be distinctly understood that, in all I
have to say upon this subject, both here and elsewhere, I mean no
harm to the missionaries nor their cause; I merely desire to set
forth things as they actually exist.
Of the results which have flowed from the intercourse of foreigners
with the Polynesians, including the attempts to civilize and
Christianize them by the missionaries, Tahiti, on many accounts, is
obviously the fairest practical example. Indeed, it may now be
asserted that the experiment of Christianizing the Tahitians, and
improving their social condition by the introduction of foreign
customs, has been fully tried. The present generation have grown up
under the auspices of their religious instructors. And although it
may be urged that the labours of the latter have at times been more
or less obstructed by unprincipled foreigners, still, this in no wise
renders Tahiti any the less a fair illustration; for, with obstacles
like these, the missionaries in Polynesia must always, and everywhere
struggle.
Nearly sixty years have elapsed since the Tahitian mission was
started; and, during this period, it has received the unceasing
prayers and contributions of its friends abroad. Nor has any
enterprise of the kind called forth more devotion on the part of
those directly employed in it.
It matters not that the earlier labourers in the work, although
strictly conscientious, were, as a class, ignorant, and, in many
cases, deplorably bigoted: such traits have, in some degree,
characterized the pioneers of all faiths. And although in zeal and
disinterestedness the missionaries now on the island are, perhaps,
inferior to their predecessors, they have, nevertheless, in their own
way at least, laboured hard to make a Christian people of their
charge.
Let us now glance at the most obvious changes wrought in their
condition.
The entire system of idolatry has been done away; together with
several barbarous practices engrafted thereon. But this result is not
so much to be ascribed to the missionaries, as to the civilizing
effects of a long and constant intercourse with whites of all
nations; to whom, for many years, Tahiti has been one of the principal
places of resort in the South Seas. At the Sandwich Islands, the
potent institution of the Taboo, together with the entire paganism of
the land, was utterly abolished by a voluntary act of the natives
some time previous to the arrival of the first missionaries among
them.
The next most striking change in the Tahitians is this. From the
permanent residence among them of influential and respectable
foreigners, as well as from the frequent visits of ships-of-war,
recognizing the nationality of the island, its inhabitants are no
longer deemed fit subjects for the atrocities practised upon mere
savages; and hence, secure from retaliation, vessels of all kinds now
enter their harbours with perfect safety.
But let us consider what results are directly ascribable to the
missionaries alone.
In all cases, they have striven hard to mitigate the evils resulting
from the commerce with the whites in general. Such attempts, however,
have been rather injudicious, and often ineffectual: in truth, a
barrier almost insurmountable is presented in the dispositions of the
people themselves. Still, in this respect, the morality of the
islanders is, upon the whole, improved by the presence of the
missionaries.
But the greatest achievement of the latter, and one which in itself is
most hopeful and gratifying, is that they have translated the entire
Bible into the language of the island; and I have myself known
several who were able to read it with facility. They have also
established churches, and schools for both children and adults; the
latter, I regret to say, are now much neglected: which must be
ascribed, in a great measure, to the disorders growing out of the
proceedings of the French.
It were unnecessary here to enter diffusely into matters connected
with the internal government of the Tahitian churches and schools.
Nor, upon this head, is my information copious enough to warrant me
in presenting details. But we do not need them. We are merely
considering general results, as made apparent in the moral and
religious condition of the island at large.
Upon a subject like this, however, it would be altogether too assuming
for a single individual to decide; and so, in place of my own random
observations, which may be found elsewhere, I will here present those
of several known authors, made under various circumstances, at
different periods, and down to a comparative late date. A few very
brief extracts will enable the reader to mark for himself what
progressive improvement, if any, has taken place.
Nor must it be overlooked that, of these authorities, the two first in
order are largely quoted by the Right Reverend M. Kussell, in a work
composed for the express purpose of imparting information on the
subject of Christian missions in Polynesia. And he frankly
acknowledges, moreover, that they are such as "cannot fail to have
great weight with the public."
After alluding to the manifold evils entailed upon the natives by
foreigners, and their singularly inert condition; and after somewhat
too severely denouncing the undeniable errors of the mission,
Kotzebue, the Russian navigator, says, "A religion like this, which
forbids every innocent pleasure, and cramps or annihilates every
mental power, is a libel on the divine founder of Christianity. It is
true that the religion of the missionaries has, with a great deal of
evil, effected some good. It has restrained the vices of theft and
incontinence; but it has given birth to ignorance, hypocrisy, and a
hatred of all other modes of faith, which was once foreign to the
open and benevolent character of the Tahitian."
Captain Beechy says that, while at Tahiti, he saw scenes "which must
have convinced the great sceptic of the thoroughly immoral condition
of the people, and which would force him to conclude, as Turnbull
did, many years previous, that their intercourse with the Europeans
had tended to debase, rather than exalt their condition."
About the year 1834, Daniel Wheeler, an honest-hearted Quaker,
prompted by motives of the purest philanthropy, visited, in a vessel
of his own, most of the missionary settlements in the South Seas. He
remained some time at Tahiti; receiving the hospitalities of the
missionaries there, and, from time to time, exhorting the natives.
After bewailing their social condition, he frankly says of their
religious state, "Certainly, appearances are unpromising; and however
unwilling to adopt such a conclusion, there is reason to apprehend
that Christian principle is a great rarity."
Such, then, is the testimony of good and unbiassed men, who have been
upon the spot; but, how comes it to differ so widely from impressions
of others at home? Simply thus: instead of estimating the result of
missionary labours by the number of heathens who have actually been
made to understand and practise (in some measure at least) the
precepts of Christianity, this result has been unwarrantably inferred
from the number of those who, without any understanding of these
things, have in any way been induced to abandon idolatry and conform
to certain outward observances.
By authority of some kind or other, exerted upon the natives through
their chiefs, and prompted by the hope of some worldly benefit to the
latter, and not by appeals to the reason, have conversions in
Polynesia been in most cases brought about.
Even in one or two instances--so often held up as wonderful examples
of divine power--where the natives have impulsively burned their
idols, and rushed to the waters of baptism, the very suddenness of
the change has but indicated its unsoundness. Williams, the martyr of
Erromanga, relates an instance where the inhabitants of an island
professing Christianity voluntarily assembled, and solemnly revived
all their heathen customs.
All the world over, facts are more eloquent than words; the following
will show in what estimation the missionaries themselves hold the
present state of Christianity and morals among the converted
Polynesians.
On the island of Imeeo (attached to the Tahitian mission) is a
seminary under the charge of the Rev. Mr. Simpson and wife, for the
education of the children of the missionaries, exclusively. Sent
home--in many cases, at a very early age--to finish their education,
the pupils here are taught nothing but the rudiments of knowledge;
nothing more than may be learned in the native schools.
Notwithstanding this, the two races are kept as far as possible from
associating; the avowed reason being to preserve the young whites
from moral contamination. The better to insure this end, every effort
is made to prevent them from acquiring the native language.
They went even further at the Sandwich Islands; where, a few years
ago, a playground for the children of the missionaries was inclosed
with a fence many feet high, the more effectually to exclude the
wicked little Hawaiians.
And yet, strange as it may seem, the depravity among the Polynesians,
which renders precautions like these necessary, was in a measure
unknown before their intercourse with the whites. The excellent
Captain Wilson, who took the first missionaries out to Tahiti,
affirms that the people of that island had, in many things, "more
refined ideas of decency than ourselves." Vancouver, also, has some
noteworthy ideas on this subject, respecting the Sandwich Islanders.
That the immorality alluded to is continually increasing is plainly
shown in the numerous, severe, and perpetually violated laws against
licentiousness of all kinds in both groups of islands.
It is hardly to be expected that the missionaries would send home
accounts of this state of things. Hence, Captain Beechy, in alluding
to the "Polynesian Researches" of Ellis, says that the author has
impressed his readers with a far more elevated idea of the moral
condition of the Tahitians, and the degree of civilization to which
they have attained, than they deserve; or, at least, than the facts
which came under his observation authorized. He then goes on to say
that, in his intercourse with the islanders, "they had no fear of
him, and consequently acted from the impulse of their natural
feeling; so that he was the better enabled to obtain a correct
knowledge of their real disposition and habits."
Prom my own familiar intercourse with the natives, this last
reflection still more forcibly applies to myself. _
Read next: PART II: CHAPTER XLIX. SAME SUBJECT CONTINUED
Read previous: PART II: CHAPTER XLVII. HOW THEY DRESS IN TAHITI
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