771 Cession of Matavai, in Otaheite, to Captain Wilson. the winds were fair and the weather calm, and that we had reached our anchorage in safety. Ma-ta-vai, or Port Royal, as it was called by Captain Wallis, is situated in latitude 17° 36′ S. and longitude 149° 35 W. It is rather an open bay, and although screened from the prevailing tradewinds, is exposed to the southern and westerly gales, and also to a considerable swell from the sea. "The long flat neck of land which forms its northern boundary, was the spot on which Captain Cook erected his tents, and fixed his instruments for observing the transit of Venus; on which account, it has ever since been called Point Venus. Excepting those parts enclosed as gardens or plantations, the land near the shore is covered with long grass, or a species of convolvulus, called by the natives pohue; numerous clumps of trees, and waving cocoa-ruts, add much to the beauty of its appearance. A fine stream, rising in the interior mountains, winds through the sinuosities of the head of the valley, and, fertilizing the district of Matavai, flows through the centre of this long neck of land, into the sea. "Such, without much alteration, in all probability, was the appearance of this beautiful bay, when discovered by Captain Wallis, in 1767; and two years after, when first visited by Captain Cook; or when Captain Bligh, in the Bounty, spent six months at anchor here in 1788 and 1789; when Captain Vancouver arrived in 1792; Captain New, of the Dedalus, in 1793; and Captain Wilson, in the Duff, who anchored in the same bay on the 6th of March, 1797. "It was on the northern shores of this bay, that eighteen of the Missionaries, who left England in the Duff, first landed, upwards of thirty years ago. They were the messengers Far into bliss. Saw men, immortal men, "To reclaim the inhabitants from error and superstition, to impart to them the truths of revelation, to improve their present condition, and direct them to future blessedness, were the ends at which they aimed; and here they commenced those labours which some of them have continued to the present time; and which, under the blessing of God, have been productive of the moral change that has since taken place among the natives of this and the adjacent islands. 772 "Decisive and extensive as that change has since become, it was long before any salutary effects appeared as the result of their endeavours. And, although the scene before me was now one of loveliness and quietude, cheerful, yet placid as the smooth waters of the bay, that scarcely rippled by the vessel's side, it has often worn a very different aspect. Here the first Missionaries frequently heard the song accompanying the licentious areois dance, the deafening noise of the worship, and saw the human victim carried by for sacrifice: here, too, they often heard the startling cry of war, and saw their frightened neighbours fly before the murderous spear and plundering hand of lawless powers The invaders' torch reduced the native hut to ashes, while the lurid flame seared the green foliage of the trees, and clouds of smoke, rising up among their groves, darkened for a time surrounding objects. On such occasions, and they were not infrequent, the contrast between the country, and the inhabitants, must have been most affecting, appearing as if the demons of darkness had lighted up infernal fires, even in the bowers of paradise. "Within sight of the spot where our vessel lay, four of the Missionaries were stripped and maltreated by the natives, two of them nearly assassinated, from the anger of the king, and one of them was murdered. Here the first Missionary dwelling was erected, the first temple for the worship of Jehovah reared, and the first Missionary grave opened; and here, after having been obliged to convert their house into a garrison, and watch night and day in constant expectation of attack, the Missionaries were obliged, almost in hopeless despair, to abandon a field, on which they had bestowed the toil and culture of twelve anxious and eventful years. "On the 7th of March, 1797, the first Missionaries from the Duff went on shore, and were met on the beach by the late Pomare and his queen, then called Otoo and Tetua; by them they were kindly welcomed, as well as by Paitia, an aged chief of the district. They were conducted to a large, oval-shaped native house, which had been but recently finished for Captain Bligh, whom they expected to return. Their dwelling was pleasantly situated on the western side of the river, near the extremity of Point Venus. The islanders were delighted to behold foreigners coming to take up their permanent residence among them; as those they had heretofore seen, with the exception of a Spaniard, had been transient visitors. The Spaniard had saved 773 Cession of Matavai, in Otaheite, to Captain Wilson. his life by escaping from Langara's ship, while it was lying at anchor in Tairabu, in March, 1773, at which time three of his shipmates were executed. The benefit the natives had derived from this individual, and from the mutineers of the Bounty, prior to their apprehension by the people | of the Pandora, and the residence of several of the crew of the Matilda, which had been wrecked on a reef not far distant, led them to desire the residence of foreigners. The inhabitants of Tahiti having never seen any European females or children, were consequently filled with amazement and delight, when the wives and children | of the Missionaries landed. Several times during the first days of their residence on shore, large parties arrived from different places in front of the house, requesting that the white women and children would come to the door and shew themselves. The chiefs and people were not satisfied with giving them the large and commodious Fare Beritani (British House,) as they called the one they had built for Bligh, but readily and cheerfully ceded to Captain Wilson and the Missionaries, in an official and formal manner, the whole district of Matavai, in which their habitation was situated. The late Pomare and his queen, with other branches of the royal family, and the most influential persons in the nation, were present, and Haamanemane, an aged chief of Raiatea, and chief priest of Tahiti, was the principal agent for the natives on the occasion. "The accompanying Plate, representing this singular transaction, is taken from an original painting in the possession of Mrs. Wilson, relict of the late Captain Wilson. It exhibits, not only the rich luxuriance of the scenery, but the complexion, expression, dress, and tatauing of the natives, with remarkable fidelity and spirit. The two figures on men's shoulders are the late king and queen. Near the queen on the right stands Peter the Swede, their interpreter, and behind him stands Idia, the mother of the king. The person seated on the ground at the right hand in the plate, is Paitia, the chief of the district; behind him stand Mr. and Mrs. Henry, Mr. Jefferson, and others. The principal person on this side is Captain Wilson, holding his hat in his left hand; between him and his nephew Captain W. Wilson, stands a child of Mr. Hassel; Mrs. Hassel with an infant, that has attracted the eye of the queen, is before them. On the left, next to the king, stands his father, Pomare the elder, the upper part of his body uncovered in 774 homage to his son, and behind him is Hapai, the king's grandfather. Haamanemane, the high-priest, who is old and nearly blind, appears in a crouching position, addressing Captain Wilson through the interpretation of Peter the Swede, and surrendering the district. On his right hand, in a recumbent posture, is the young wife of Pomare the elder: Idia, though still sustaining the highest authority, being now no longer his favourite. Haamanemane was also the taio, or friend, of Captain Wilson; and rendered him considerable service, in procuring supplies, facilitating the settlement of the Mission, and accomplishing other objects of his visit. Just behind the highpriest, and the young queen, is a rope drawn round the place of audience, to keep off the people, and encircle the principal personages. Without the rope stands Mawrea, with other chiefs, and also a sister of Pomare, who, in observance of certain rules of etiquette, were not permitted to enter the sacred enclosure. "Presentations of this kind were not uncommon among the islanders, as a compliment, or matter of courtesy, to a visitor; they were regulated by the rank and means of the donors, or the dignity of the guests. Houses, plantations, districts, and even whole islands, were sometimes presented; still, those who thus received them, never thought of appropriating them to their own use, and excluding their original proprietors, any more than a visitor in England, who should be told by his host to make himself perfectly at home, and to do as he would if he were in his own house, would, from this declaration, think of altering the apartments of the house, or removing from it any part of the furniture. It is, however, probable, that such was their estimate of the advantages that would result from the residence of the Mission families among them, that, in order to afford every facility for the accomplishment of an object so desirable, and hold out every inducement to confidence for the Missionaries, as to their future support, they were sincere in thus ceding the district. They might wish them to reside in it, exercise the office of chiefs over the whole, cultivate as much of it as they desired, and receive tribute from those who might occupy the remaining parts; but, by no means, perpetually to alienate it from the king, or chief, to whom it originally belonged. This they knew could not be done without their permission, and that permission they could at any time withhold." "In 1801, when the Royal Admira' 775 Cession of Matavai, in Otaheite, to Captain Wilson. arrived, Pomare was asked, when the Missionaries were introduced to him, if they were still to consider the district theirs; and though he replied in the affirmative, and even asked if they wished the inhabitants to remove, it afterwards appeared that the natives considered them only as tenants at will. All they desired was, the permanent occupation of the ground on which their dwellings and gardens were situated; yet, in writing to the Society, in 1804, they remark, in reference to the district, The inhabitants do not consider the district, nor any part of it, as belonging to us, except the sandy spot we occupy with our dwellings and gardens; and even as to that, there are persons who claim the ground as theirs.' 776 return to England, was taken on board, and the Duff finally sailed from Matavai on the 4th of August, 1797. The Missionaries returning from the ship, as well as those on shore, watched her course as she slowly receded from their view, under no ordinary sensations. They now! felt that they were cut off from all but Divine guidance, protection, and support, and had parted with those by whose counsels and presence they had been assisted in entering upon their labours, but whom on earth they did not expect to meet again. Captain Wilson coasted along the south and western shores of Huahine, and then sailed to Tongatabu; where, after spending twenty days with the Missionaries, who appeared comfortably settled, he sailed for Canton, where he received a cargo, with which he returned to England, and arrived safely in the Thames; having completed his perilous voyage, under circumstances adapted to afford the highest satisfaction, and to excite the sincerest gratitude from all who were interested in the success of the important enterprise. "Whatever advantages the kings or chiefs might expect to derive from this settlement on the island, it must not be supposed that any desire to receive moral or religious instructions formed a part. This was evident, from a speech once made by Haamanemane, who said that they gave the people plenty of the parau (word) talk and prayer, but very few knives, axes, sissors, or cloth. These, however, were soon afterwards amply supplied. A desire to possess such property, and to receive the assistance of the Euro-other chiefs, continued to manifest the truest peans in the exercise of the mechanic arts, or in their wars, was probably the motive by which the natives were most strongly influenced. "Captain Wilson was, however, happy to find the king, chiefs, and people so willing to receive the Missionaries, and so friendly towards them; and the latter being now settled comfortably in their new sphere of labour, the Duff sailed for the Friendly Islands on the 26th of March. "Having landed ten Missionaries at Tongatabu, in the Friendly Islands, Captain Wilson visited and surveyed several of the Marquesan Islands, and left Mr. Crook a Missionary there; he then returned to Tahiti, and on the 6th of July, the Duff again anchored in Matavai Bay. The health of the Missionaries had not been affected by the climate. The conduct of the natives had been friendly and respectful; and supplies in abundance had been furnished during his absence. While the ship remained at Tahiti, Mr. W. Wilson made the tour of the island; the iron, tools, and other supplies for the Mission, were landed the Missionaries, and their friends on board, having spent a month in agreeable intercourse, now affectionately bade each other farewell. Dr. Gilham having intimated to Captain W, his wish to "The departure of the Duff did not occasion any diminution in the attention of the natives to the Missionaries in Tahiti. Pomare, Otu, Haamanemane, Paitia, and friendship, and liberally supplied them with such articles as the island afforded. The Missionaries, as soon as they had made the habitation furnished by the people for their accommodation in any degree comfortable, commenced with energy their important work. "Their acquaintance with the most useful of the mechanic arts, not only delighted the natives, but raised the Missionaries in their estimation, and led them to desire their friendship. This was strikingly evinced on several occasions, when they beheld them use their carpenters' tools, cut with a saw a number of boards out of a tree, which they had never thought it possible to split into more than two, and make with these, chests, and articles of furniture. When they beheld a boat built, upwards of twenty feet long, and six tons burden, they were pleased and surprised; but when the blacksmith's shop was erected, and the forge and anvil were first employed on their shores, they were filled with astonishment. They had long been acquainted with the properties and uses of iron, having procured some from the natives of a neighbouring island, where a Dutch ship, belonging to Roggewein's squadron, had been wrecked many years before they were visited by Captain Wallis 777 Essay on the Nature and Force of Evidence. 778 ESSAY ON THE NATURE AND FORCE OF זי When the heated iron was hammered on distant islanders, and through which they the anivil, and the sparks flew among them, have been induced to abandon idolatry they fancied it was spitting at them, and and savage life, for the solid advantages of were frightened, as they also were with the | Christianity, and the refined blessings of hissing occasioned by immersing it in civilization. water; yet they were delighted to see the facility with which a bar of iron was thus converted into hatchets, adzes, fish-spears, and fish-hooks, &c. . Pomare, entering one day when the blacksmith was employed, As the reception of religious truth, which aftene gazing a few minutes at the work, | ought always to be the governing principle was so transported at what he saw, that he of human actions, must in a great measure caught up the smith in his arms, and, un- depend on the rational evidence by which mindful of the dirt and perspiration inse- it is supported, I propose in the present perable from his occupation, most cordially essay to inquire into the nature and force embraced him, and saluted him, according of evidence, and by what means it operates to the custom of his country, by touching on the mind, to convince it of the distinction between truth and error. moses. "Iron tools they considered the most Evidence may be defined to be a com→ valuable articles they could possess; and bination of self-evident or well-authentia circumstance that occurred during the cated facts, regularly arranged and digested second visit of the Duff, will shew, most to confirm and support each other. From strikingly the comparative value they placed these, when properly presented before it, supon gold and iron. The ship's cook had | the mind, by the power of reflection, prolost his axe, and Captain Wilson gave him ceeds to reason on their consistency, conten guineas to try to purchase one, sup- nexion, and authority, and from them, by -posing that the intercourse the natives had the further exercise of judgment, forms a already had with Europeans, would enable | series of sentiments, opinions, and resolu them to form some estimate of the value tions, to regulate the future conduct. of a guinea, and the number of articles they could procure with it, from any other ship that might visit the island; but, although the cook kept the guineas more than a week, he could meet with no individual among the natives who would part with an axe, or even a hatchet, in exchange for them. "While some of the Missionaries were employed in the exercise of those arts which were adapted to make the most powerful impression upon the minds of the natives, others were equally diligent in exploring the adjacent country, planting the seeds they had brought with them from Europe and Brazil, and studiously endeavouring to gain an acquaintance with the native language, which they justly considered essential to the accomplishment of their objects." Having thus stated some of the leading revents more immediately connected with the Plate, the reader is referred for a detailed account of the successes, disasters, and numerous vicissitudes, associated with this early mission, to a work recently pubdished by the Rev. William- Ellis, entitled, Polynesian Researches." In this work he has traced with much ability, and marked with commendable discrimination, the changes which, under the co-operation | of various causes, have of late years taken place in the character and conduct of these Such is the definition of evidence generally, and that of religion in particular; and I shall now proceed to consider it under the two general heads of Natural Evidence-and Supernatural or Revealed Evidence. 1. Natural Evidence.In describing the evidences which nature bears to the existence of a God, and his moral government, I shall be guided by the general system of the universe, on which alone that existence and providence can be established, and which it is the province of reason to observe and improve. In the beautiful order, harmony and contrivance visible in the structure of the universe, we behold the wisdom, power, and love of an infinitely great and benevolent Being; and this sentiment or conviction is strengthened and confirmed by the contemplation of ourselves. In pursuing this contemplation, and reflecting on the symmetry of our bodies, our erect and commanding stature, but, above all, the powers and capacities of our mental faculties, we find a conscious superiority over the brute creation. There is a natural propensity in the human mind, even in the most uncultivated state, as among ignorant barbarians, to seek for some cause for all the wonders that surround it, and to this cause there is a disposition to pay some kind of worship, however im 779 Essay on the Nature and Force of Evidence. perfect. But though the voice of nature proclaims a Creator, it can do no more. It declares him to be infinitely powerful and infinitely wise, and points him out as the great ruler of its operations; but of his mode of existence, or attributes, it can teach us nothing. From this deficiency arise the vague, irreconcileable, and contradictory systems which have been disseminated by the proselytes of natural theology. The maxim of Pope, "Say first, of God above, or man below, What can we reason but from what we know!" has been strictly exhibited in their theories, which are as inconsistent with the nature and attributes of the Divine Being, as they are repugnant to the dictates of reason. The visions of the Brahmins, the superstitions of the Hindoos, and the reveries of Confucius, are examples of the absurdities to which men are led by the mere light of nature. Yet these are intelligent beings, and firmly persuaded of the truth of what they advance. Nature has proved to them, equally as to the speculative modern philosopher, the existence of a God; and their benighted reason, lost in ignorance, has led them to clothe him in the semblance of the most horrid productions of nature. But, compared with the philosopher, they had the same evidences as himself, and the same facts were equally open to the contemplation of both. They had still to form to themselves some idea of that Being, and his mode of existence, and the results in each have been commensurate with their education. But the modern deist is blest with superior mental cultivation. To him the voice of nature proclaims a God, and his reason confirms the testimony. To the voice of nature he professes to listen; but his education, so far from assisting him in his researches, is only employed to elevate his own pride and self-sufficiency against the positive declaration of the power that made him. Thus natural evidence, both in the savage and the philosopher, produces no more than a conviction of the existence of the supreme Being, leaving man to form his own conjectures on his mode of existence, attributes, &c.; and under these circumstances we find the two characters forming such opinions as are suited to their situation, though, from the instances we have had of the tenets and practice of modern deists, we cannot judge favourably of the effect of this species of evidence on their minds. 2. Supernatural or Revealed Evidence. I am convinced that there are few, if any, 780 who have once heard of such a book as the Bible, and beeu in any degree informed of its interesting contents, but must naturally feel a desire to read it. The very name it bears (which implies the BOOK OF BOOKS,) has something in it so extraordinary, that curiosity, not to say devotional feeling, must be stimulated to be acquainted with it. To what a pitch of interest then must that curiosity be raised, when it is known to contain, not only the history of mankind from the creation, through a long succession of remote ages, and a cir cumstantial account of events connected with it, but, above all, that it reveals to man the great Creator of himself and of the universe around him. Such is the nature of the evidence which revelation bears to the existence of a God; and it further unfolds his character, attributes, and moral government. The very nature of the Bible, in the whole of its composition, bears the clearest and most convincing proofs of a divine origin; and thus is an authority worthy to be received in evidence, for however disputes may arise respecting the interpretation of particular passages, the whole, as a body of facts, is consistent with itself; and this is the more wonderful when we consider the various periods at which it was written, and the number of persons who were instrumental to its composition. As a history, it is most complete and satisfactory. The introduction of the Deity in the stupendous act of creation, conveys a distinct and perfect idea of the supreme majesty, power, and wisdom; and agrees minutely with the evidences afforded us by nature. 1 21 All the laws also that are contained in the Bible, whether ceremonial, judicial, or moral, are suited to the character of man as a rational and accountable creature, while they are perfectly consistent with the divine attributes. What must at first sight make a strong! impression on the mind of the reader is, to find that both these material parts of the Bible, namely, the history and law, though intimately connected throughout the sacred volume, and forming together one whole, yet that either, if considered separately, and independent of the other, is perfect and complete in itself. This is one of the strongest proofs of the authenticity and genuineness, as well as of the divine origin, of the sacred records. Another prominent feature of evidence in them is, the simplicity, but grandeur, of the language in which they are written. It might have been naturally expected, |