show the same desire to imitate their teachers in their dress, habitations, furniture, and mechanical arts, yet they did, to some extent, adopt civilised habits, and were largely benefited, both temporally and spiritually, by the reception of the Gospel.

There were, among the civilised Maories, some remarkable instances of mental superiority, and of intelligent natives, who elevated themselves in the social scale, built handsome dwellings, furnished them respectably after the European style, and carried on business successfully as farmers, merchants, or Government officers. Nor was there wanting direct spiritual fruit of the most encouraging kind, as the result of the united labours of the Missionaries. At one period, on thirteen stations, the Wesleyan Missionaries reported three thousand two hundred and fifty-nine converted natives, united in Church fellowship; and four thousand children in the Mission schools. At social meetings, when opportunities were afforded to the native members to relate their religious experience, they frequently bore testimony to the regenerating and sanctifying power of Divine grace upon their souls, in a manner which excited feelings of the liveliest gratitude in the hearts of those who had been the means of their conversion to God.

In view of the cheering prospects which characterised the early history of the Missionary enterprise in New Zealand, it is with sorrowful feelings that we record the fact of the gradual decrease in numbers of the Maori race. Similar results have followed European emigration to other countries; and yet we see no reason why this need be the case, if proper precautions were used to guard the natives against the evils to which they are exposed when they come in contact with their pale-faced brethren. Unfortunately, thoughtless and unprincipled white men often introduce the use of ardent spirits and tobacco to the Aborigines of the countries where they settle, to say nothing about certain diseases almost as destructive of human life in their influence, to which the natives were previously strangers. Something may, however, in all fairness, be placed to the account of the people's own folly and imprudence in this matter: as early and unequal marriages, marriages with kindred, the remains of polygamy,

improper treatment of infants, unwholesome food, and insufficient clothing, &c. When the natives become still better informed, and more fully Christianised, some of these hindrances to health and increase may, perhaps, be removed, and the permanency of the race be secured in a state of civilisation, if Europeans do their duty to their fellowmen. According to the latest accounts, the European population of New Zealand is estimated at two hundred and twenty-five thousand, whilst that of the Maoris scarcely exceeds forty thousand.

Since the colonisation of the country, the Missionary work in New Zealand has undergone an entire change in its character, as already intimated. From the removal of the people to different localities, the scattering of the tribes by war, as well as the decrease of the Aboriginal population already alluded to, the native department of the Mission is much more circumscribed than formerly, and fewer Church members are now reported. Yet we have some noble specimens of native Christians connected with our respective stations; and their spiritual interests and the education of their children are carefully attended to. Among the colonists, however, the work has greatly prospered, and many of the British emigrants, in that far-off country, can rejoice in the enjoyment of religious privileges equal to those with which they were favoured in their own highly-favoured land. Commodious and substantial chapels have been erected in the principal colonial towns and villages; common schools and seminaries of learning have been established, for the education of the rising generation of all classes; and, by the judicious arrangements of the Australian Conference, with which the work is now incorporated, we have reason to anticipate a prosperous future for Methodism in New Zealand. The Islands are divided into three separate Districts, which comprise about thirty-two principal stations or circuits. In connection with these, forty-three ordained ministers are usefully employed, with two thousand five hundred and eighty-seven Church members under their pastoral care, and five thousand scholars attending the Sabbath and day-schools.

THE COUNTRY AND INHABITANTS-A MISSION OF CIVILISATION-WESLEYAN MISSION COMMENCED-MISSIONARIES SENT FROM ENGLANDPROGRESS OF THE WORK IN TONGA-MISSION TO HAABAI-MISSION TO VAVAU-GREAT REVIVAL-MISCELLANEOUS INCIDENTS-SAMOA.

THE Friendly Islands are situated in the South Pacific Ocean, the centre being in latitude 21° south, and longitude 18° west. The entire group is said to consist of nearly two hundred islands, from forty to fifty of which only are inhabited. The principal of these are Tonga or Tongatabu, Vavau, Nomuka, Eua, and the Haabais. They were first discovered by the great Dutch navigator, Tasman, in 1643, and in 1773 they were visited by our celebrated countryman, Captain Cook, who gave them their present name, from the real or supposed friendliness of the inhabitants, as compared with the savages of other groups with whom he came in contact. Like most of the other islands in the South Seas, they are of coral formation, and are supposed to have emerged from the ocean at a remote period, as the result of the industry of myriads of little insects which are constantly at work beneath the waves. Although the soil is but thinly spread over the coral rocks, it is, nevertheless, remarkably fertile, and produces the cocoa-nuts, bread-fruit, plantain, banana, sugar-cane, and yams, besides pumpkins, pine-apples, pepper, oranges, melons, and

various other kinds of vegetables and fruits peculiar to the country. The climate, although warm, is said to be healthy, and the scenery is described as peculiarly grand and romantic, some of the hills being covered with forest trees, and others exhibiting evident signs of volcanic action.

It is believed that the Aborigines of the Friendly Islands, in common with the natives of other groups in the Pacific, originally came from the mainland of Asia. Their appearance, their language, and many of their customs, are regarded as justifying this view of their origin. At what period, and under what circumstances, these beautifully sunny islands were first inhabited, it is now impossible to say, as, when first discovered, the people had no written language or monumental records of any kind to chronicle their history. There are, however, in the appearance of crowded burying-places, in stories handed down from father to son, and in occasional traces of arts once known, but now lost, indications that many generations have succeeded each other since the Asiatic strangers first arrived on these shores. Tradition says that the population of the entire group was once immense, but it is now estimated at about thirty thousand.

With regard to their social and moral condition, it is quite clear that the inhabitants were awfully degraded, and fearfully sunk in depravity and sin, when they first came under the notice of Europeans. They were called Friendly Islanders, it is true, by those who paid a hasty and transient visit to their shores, and fabulous accounts of their innocence and happiness were freely circulated in Europe at an early period; but when Christian Missionaries came to live among them, and to witness their conduct from month to month and from year to year, their real state and character became more correctly and more fully known. It turned out that these Friendly Islanders were almost constantly at war among themselves, that they were cannibals, polygamists, and idolaters, and that they stood in need of the Gospel as much as any people whoever lived on the face of the earth. There were, nevertheless, traits of character and incidental peculiarities in these people, some of which will appear as we proceed, that seem to betoken a higher

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state of civilisation, at some remote period of time, from which they had degenerated-thus forcibly showing how man, when left to himself, may deteriorate in his condition; but, without the true knowledge of God, he can never raise himself in the scale of being.

A MISSION OF CIVILISATION.

It is to be feared that the impression made upon the minds of the Friendly Islanders by the first white men with whom they came in contact would not be very favourable. In connection with the visits of the ships of Tasman and Cook, some events occurred of a very exceptional character. And when escaped convicts or European seamen of depraved and dissolute habits occasionally landed on their shores, and took up their abode in the islands, the natives had still more objectionable specimens of people from a Christian country. These wicked men not only descended to the level of the savages in their dress and mode of life, without making any efforts to improve them, but they actually taught them deeds of daring and of sin which they had never known before. But we refrain from entering into a description of scenes of cruelty and of blood in which our countrymen were the chief actors, and proceed to notice events of a more pleasing character. At length the time came when the Friendly Islanders were to behold better specimens of white men; for a Mission was planned in England, by a truly philanthropic people, for the special purpose of seeking to promote their civilisation, concerning which a few particulars may prove interesting.

When the London Missionary Society was organised in the year 1795, it was arranged that their first enterprise should be a Mission to the South Seas, a part of the world which was then attracting considerable attention by reason of the wonderful discoveries of Captain Cook, which had just been made known to the public. After considerable delay, a ship called the Duff was purchased and fitted out for the voyage, and thirty persons were engaged as Missionaries. Only four of these, however, were ordained Ministers; the rest were mechanics or tradesmen, in