the volume, the leading events in the lives of all the missionaries, so far as the facts were attainable. There was more reason for carefully illustrating the triumphs of divine grace in the lives and characters of the more prominent native converts; and the strength and consistency of Christian character in many of the early converts, may well awaken our surprise. Nor, if we follow the native Christians into their foreign missions, shall we withhold our admiration from those who are, for the most part, converts of the second generation. The author gratefully acknowledges his obligations to the Rev. AUGUSTUS C. THOMPSON, D. D., long a member of the Prudential Committee, and to the Rev. ISAAC R. WORCESTER, the able editor of the "Missionary Herald," for judicious and highly valued criticisms, extended through nearly the entire volume. He is also under obligation to the Rev. LUTHER H. GULICK, M. D., late Corresponding Secretary of the Board of the Hawaiian Evangelical Association, and now in this country, who favored him with many valuable facts and suggestions. Among the available sources of information, the author would mention Dr. Joseph Tracy's "History of the American Board," brought down to the year 1842. Besides the great accuracy of that compend, it performed the invaluable service of reducing the multitudinous facts to their proper chronological order, and thus saved a vast amount of labor to all future historians. The Rev. Hiram Bingham's "Residence of Twenty-one Years in the Sandwich Islands," brings the history of the mission down to the year 1845, and is sufficiently full, and generally accurate. It forms a closely printed octavo volume of more than six hundred pages. The Rev. Sheldon Dibble's "History of the Sandwich Islands," published at the Islands in 1843, a duodecimo volume of four hundred and fifty pages, is an excellent authority. Mr. James Jackson Jarves's "History of the Sandwich Islands," 1843 (Honolulu, 1847), is the best of all the histories of those Islands, and was written in a fair and friendly spirit towards the mission; but stops many years short of the present time. I have made marginal references to these works, where it seemed needful to state my authori ties; but having free access to original documents in the archives of the Board, I have not often deemed it needful to refer to the "Missionary Herald," which, after all, is the grand store-house of materials for the history of the missions of the American Board. Freed from the cares of official life, the writer finds a healthful excitement, as well as a congenial and he trusts useful employment, in reviving the recollection of facts, once very familiar, and recording them for the use of the generation now coming upon the great field of Christian action. The present volume contains, perhaps, all it is needful now to say concerning the wonderful work of God's grace at the Sandwich Islands. The "Memorial Volume," prepared ten years ago, but not in the historical form, gives a condensed and comprehensive view of the "First Fifty Years of the American Board," as a missionary institution. A history of all the missions of the Board, written after the manner of the Mission to the Sandwich Islands, will require three volumes. The author hopes, by classing kindred missions in a connected historical view, to avoid the unpleasant repetition, which must otherwise be inevitable. He can hardly expect, at so late a period of life, to go over the whole ground, including the missions among the aborigines of this country; but, in any event, the results of his labors will be available for the completion of the work by some other competent person; and he feels assured the Prudential Committee will see that there be no unnecessary delay. The materials for the history are abundant, rich, and easy of access. September, 1870. CONTENTS. - Discovery of the Pacific Ocean and the Sandwich Islands. - The Origin of the School. Its Location. Its Object and Pupils. Death of Obookiah. - The School highly prized. — Its Theoretical Basis. - Result of Experience. - Discontinuance of the School. . 10 Origin of the Mission. — Estimate put upon Secular Agencies. — - - - Civilization among the Chiefs. - Reception of the First Reinforce- ment. - Contrasted with the Reception at Kailua. - Habits of the 26 |