CHAPTER XIII.

CHRISTIAN INFLUENCES.

1829-1835.

of the north

THE Rev. Jonathan S. Green, in compliance with instructions from the Prudential Commit- Exploration tee, spent a part of the year 1829 on a west coast. tour of exploration along a considerable portion of the northwest coast of America, but found no place which it seemed expedient, at that time, for the American Board to occupy.

An attempt was made, three years later, to institute a branch of the Hawaiian mission The Washington Islon the Washington Islands, a division of ands. the cluster usually denominated the Marquesas Islands; but it was found that the time had not come for such a mission. It was subsequently ascertained by the Prudential Committee, that the London Missionary Society regarded those islands as within its appropriate field.

the Scrip

About this time, arrangements were made for completing the translation of the Scrip- Translating tures. It was also recommended that tures. each station form a class from the more promising pupils, to be educated for teachers, and ultimately for preachers of the gospel. Though Education of every part of the Sandwich Islands is healthful, so many of the missionaries suffered from

teachers.

98

A health station.

PREVALENCE OF RELIGIOUS HABITS.

the liver complaint, that the formation of a health station was deemed expedient. One was accordingly commenced at Waimea, on Hawaii, at an elevation of two thousand feet above the sea. Kuakini, governor of Hawaii, had been received into the church in the previous year; and he now gave such prompt and generous aid that, in less than three months, five good native houses were erected, and the whole inclosed by a fence. Several missionaries resorted to this place, with their families, and received essential benefit. It ultimately became the permanent abode of Mr. Lyons. For some reason the demand for a sanitarium has long since ceased.

on public

The attendance on public worship was everywhere Attendance well sustained. Tolerable buildings for worship. worship were now to be found in every considerable village on Maui, and in not a few of the villages on the other islands.

of religious

There was no abatement of the religious interest Prevalence in the next year. In many districts the practices. practice of family prayer and of asking the divine blessing at meals, had become almost universal. It must be admitted that along with this was often a degree of ignorance and levity, if not of habitual immorality, which made it but little better than a mere form; and it was necessary to exercise extreme caution in admissions to the church.

Places occupied by missionaries.

The number of places occupied by resident missionaries, that were of frequent resort by natives, should be considered. Such were Kailua, Kaawaloa, Waimea, and Hilo, on Hawaii; Lahaina, Lahainaluna, Wailuku, and Haiku, on Maui; Kaluaaha, on Molokai; Honolulu, Ewa,

MANNER OF PROPAGATING SCHOOLS. 99

Waialua, and Kaneohe, on Oahu; and Waimea, Koloa, and Waioli, on Kauai. In the year 1835 there were at these sixteen stations twenty-four ordained missionaries, and forty-two assistant missionaries, male and female. The great object of all these, at their stations and in their tours, was to make known the gospel, and urge sinners to immediate repentance.

schools and

Nor must I omit to notice the aid derived from the common schools and the press. Owing to Influence of the number of schools, and in part to the the press. very great simplicity of the Hawaiian alphabet, the learners, in 1834, exceeded fifty thousand; and about one third of these were able to read with a good degree of ease. Many could write, and a few had some knowledge of arithmetic and geography. More than five sixths of the pupils were over ten years of age. An early and wide efficiency was thus imparted to printed religious sheets and school books in the native language, such as is not possible in the more elaborated and difficult languages of heathendom.

propagating.

The manner of propagating the schools during the first twelve or fourteen years of the Manner of mission, is worthy of special consideration. schools. It conformed to the political and social condition of the times. The first schools were mostly in the numerous trains of the chiefs. As the chiefs began to take an interest in the diffusion of Christian knowledge, they sent teachers into the districts which they held by a sort of feudal tenure, and which, for political reasons, were singularly scattered in the different islands. The head-man of the district was required by his chief to furnish the teacher

100

VALUE OF THE INSTRUCTION.

with a house to dwell in, a school-house, kapas, and food. Thus Kaahumanu sent teachers, not only into different parts of Oahu, where was her principal residence, but to Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai, Kauai, and Niihau; and teachers, sent by Kalanimoku, Namahana, Kuakini, Hoapili, and other high chiefs, were found on most of the islands. As soon as these had taught a number to read, they were expected to divide their districts, and thus to multiply the schools, until at length the land became full of them. It should be added, that the inhabitants of these districts, old and young, were all required to attend the schools, and many old and gray-headed men thus learned to read the Word of God. True, the teachers knew but little, yet they knew much Value of the more than the people at large, and what instruction. they taught was invaluable to the learners as a means for acquiring knowledge. In the year 1832 there were nine hundred schools. Not a few of the teachers gave their pupils correct views of the gospel method of salvation.

Amount of

It has been stated that the native language was so far reduced to writing at the close of the the printing. second year of the mission, as to allow the press to commence its operations in January, 1822. From that time until March, 1830, twenty-two books were printed in the Hawaiian language, amounting to 387,000 copies and 10,287,800 pages. Besides this, 3,345,000 pages were printed in the United States. Had these books been distributed gratuitously among the fifty thousand learners, the cost for each learner would have been thirty cents. As the supply of books was almost the only expense to which the Board was subjected on account of schools, each

THE SCHOOL SYSTEM EXHAUSTED.

101

sold to the

of the nine hundred schools would have cost only about fifteen dollars. But the mission deemed it best for the natives to pay for their books, The books and they were able and willing to pay in natives. products of the Islands, or in labor. It was only the want of a circulating medium among the natives, that prevented the printing establishment from supporting itself. In some of the islands, native cloth was offered for books; in others, wood; in all, meat, fish, vegetables, and labor. These were often valuable to the missionaries, but were often of little use, and the system of barter had many disadvantages.

The school

length exhausted.

school for

The school system ceased at length to be a power in the land, such as it had been. The five or six hundred teachers had taught their system at pupils to read and write, and perhaps a little more, but had now exhausted their stock of knowledge, and the system was coming to a dead stand. The mission therefore resolved to establish a high-school at Lahainaluna, on Maui, A highwith the special object of educating teach- teachers. ers. The school was opened in September, with the Rev. Lorrin Andrews as principal, and twenty-five young men as pupils. Before the close of the year, the pupils increased to sixty-seven. The course of study was to embrace four years, and was liberal for so youthful a nation. Teacher and pupils entered upon their work with much enthusiasm. Schoolhouse and lodging rooms were to be built, and food was to be raised. The site of the institution was on the gradual slope of the mountain north of Lahaina, a mile and a half from the town, by the side of a water-course, affording beds for cultivating the taro.