Missionaries | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

August 26, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Missionary, Educator … Former Slave

“Here begins the history of things known only to those who have bid the American shores a long adieu….” (Betsey Stockton)

The Second Company destined for the Sandwich Island Mission assembled at New Haven for the purpose of taking passage in the ship Thames, captain Closby, which was to sail on the 19th (November 1822.) (Congregational Magazine)

Among them was Betsey Stockton, “a colored young woman brought up in the family of the Rev. Ashbel Green, having been received with the Rev. Charles S Stewart & his wife, as a missionary to the Sandwich islands by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)”

Betsey Stockton was born into slavery in Princeton, New Jersey in 1798. She belonged to Robert Stockton, a local attorney. She was presented as a gift to Stockton’s daughter and son-in-law, the Rev. Ashbel Green, then President of Princeton College (later Princeton University.)

She was given books and was allowed to attend evening classes at Princeton Theological Seminary and was later freed. (Kealoha)

“(S)he is to be regarded & treated neither as an equal nor as a servant – but as an humble christian friend, embarked in the great enterprise of endeavoring to ameliorate the condition of the heathen generally, & especially to bring them to the saving knowledge of the truths as it is in Jesus.” (Portion of Approval for Betsey Stockton to be a Missionary to Hawaiʻi, ABCFM)

“On the 24th (March 1823,) we saw and made Owhyhee. At the first sight of the snow-capped mountains, I felt a strange sensation of joy and grief. It soon wore away, and as we sailed slowly past its windward side, we had a full view of all its grandeur.”

“The tops of the mountains are hidden in the clouds, and covered with perpetual snow. We could see with a glass the white banks, which brought the strong wintry blasts of our native country to our minds so forcibly, as almost to make me shiver.”

“Two or three canoes, loaded with natives, came to the ship … we asked them where the king was at Hawaii, or Oahu? They said at Oahu. We informed them that we were missionaries, come to live with them, and do them good. At which an old man exclaimed, in his native dialect, what may be thus translated – ‘That is very good, by and by, know God.’” (Stockton)

They landed on Oʻahu. “The Mission is in prosperous circumstances, and the hopes of its supporters here were never brighter. Truly the fields are already ripe for the harvest, and we may add, ‘The harvest is great, but the labourers are few.’”

“We have been received with open arms by the government and people, and twice the number of missionaries would have been joyfully hailed.” (Charles Samuel Stewart)

“On the 26th of May we heard that the barge was about to sail for Lahaina, with the old queen and princes; and that the queen (Keōpūolani) was desirous to have missionaries to accompany her; and that if missionaries would consent to go, the barge should wait two days for them.”

“(T)he king this morning hastened off in a small yacht, and left orders for the barge (the celebrated Cleopatra) and Waverley, to follow to Lahaina: they are now preparing to get under weigh, and I must secure a passage.”

“Two weeks after we arrived at the islands, we were sent to this place, which is considered the best part of the whole. The productions are melons, bananas, sweet potatoes, &c.” (Stockton)

“The prosperity of the mission is uninterrupted, and its prospects most encouraging. … We are very comfortably located at one of the most beautiful and important spots on the islands.”

“Mr. Richards and myself have an island with 20,000 inhabitants committed to our spiritual care – a solemn – a most responsible charge!” (Stewart)

“It was there, as (Betsey said,) that she opened a school for the common people which was certainly the first of the kind in Maui and probably the first in all Hawaii; for at the beginning the missionaries were chiefly engaged in the instructions of the chiefs and their families.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

“The 29th (June 1923) was the Sabbath. I went in the morning with the family to worship; the scene that presented itself was one that would have done an American’s heart good to have witnessed.”

“Our place of worship was nothing but an open place on the beach, with a large tree to shelter us; on the ground a large mat was laid, on which the chief persons sat. To the right there was a sofa, and a number of chairs; on these the missionaries, the king, and principal persons sat.”

“The kanakas, or lower class of people, sat on the ground in rows; leaving a passage open to the sea, from which the breeze was blowing. Mr. R. (Richards) addressed them from these words, ‘It is appointed unto all men once to die, and after death the judgment.’ Honoru acted as interpreter: the audience all appeared very solemn.” (Stockton)

“After service the favourite queen called me, and requested that I should take a seat with her on the sofa, which I did, although I could say but few words which she could understand. Soon after, biding them aroha I returned with the family. In the afternoon we had an English sermon at our house: about fifty were present, and behaved well.”

“In the morning one of the king’s boys came to the house, desiring to be instructed in English. Mr. S. (Stewart) thought it would be well for me to engage in the work at once. Accordingly I collected a proper number and commenced. I had four English, and six Hawaiian scholars. This, with the care of the family, I find as much as I can manage.” (Stockton)

Stockton has asked the mission to allow her “to create a school for the makaʻāinana (common people.) Stockton learned the Hawaiian Language and established a school in Maui where she taught English, Latin, History and Algebra. (Kealoha)

“It shows that a sincere desire to accomplish a good purpose need not be thwarted by other necessary engagements, however humble or exacting.” (Maui News, May 5, 1906)

Betsey Stockton set a new direction for education in the Islands. Stockton’s school was commended for its teaching proficiency, and later served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School and also for the Hampton Institute in Virginia, founded by General Samuel C. Armstrong. (Takara)

After residing in Hawaii for over two years, Betsey Stockton relocated to Cooperstown, New York, with the Stewarts. In subsequent years, she taught indigenous Canadian Indian students on Grape Island.

She later “led a movement to form the First Presbyterian Church of Colour in Princeton, New Jersey, in 1848.” In addition, between the period of 1848 to 1865, Stockton moved to Philadelphia to teach Black children.

Betsey Stockton made pioneering endeavors as a missionary in Hawaii, but her legacy is not well known. Still, Stockton’s school “set a new direction for education in the Islands … (It) served as a model for the Hilo Boarding School.”

Her teaching program have influence Samuel C Armstrong, the founder of Hampton Institute, who also worked as a missionary in Hawaii during this period. After a full and productive life of service for the Lord, Betsey Stockton passed away in October of 1865 in Princeton, New Jersey. (Johnson)

August 22, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Sybil’s Rocking Chair

Some mission children seemed to have a sharper understanding of economics than either their missionary parents or the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM.)

Seventeen-year old James Chamberlain (1835-1911,) who worked in the mission depository for Samuel Castle and Amos Cooke, ridiculed the Board for sending out “a great many rocking chairs sent out all set up, while if they had been packed in boxes ten times the amount of freight would have been saved.” (Schulz)

Over the course of a little over 40-years (1820-1863 – the ‘Missionary Period,’) about 180-men and women in twelve Companies served in Hawaiʻi to carry out the mission of the ABCFM in the Hawaiian Islands.

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of American Protestant missionaries from the northeast US set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven American couples sent by the ABCFM to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity in this first company. Among them were Hiram and Sybil Bingham (he was the leader of the mission.)

The early missionaries had not brought much furniture (if any) with them, so boxes in which goods had been packed served as tables and chairs. There were no furniture stores and no lumber yards in Honolulu then.

Bingham, like most Yankees at that time, was handy with tools and with a piece of driftwood from the northwest, a stick of sandalwood given him, some Koa and seal skin for the seat, he managed to make a rocking chair. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

“On our arrival at the Sandwich Islands … most of the missionaries, & Mrs B & myself in particular were destitute of chairs, as the Islands were so universally.”

“There were none in the market. Though tools and timber were scarce, & I had never made a chair, & enough else demanded my time & labor I undertook and constructed for Mrs B a rocking chair”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

“To-day I have been presented with what I may call an elegant chair, the labor of the same kind hands. A rocking-chair too. You smile. But with all my fondness for one, how do you think I have done without, with all my hard work?”

“A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is every thing.”

“I think no workman would have made a seat more firm and comfortable, while the sandal-wood and young seal skin, with neat workmanship, render it elegant.”

“Our friend, Mr Green, is now looking at it – rates it at twelve dollars, comparing it with one for which he gave ten. I suspect you would not be purchasers if I should put my price upon it.” (Sybil Bingham, June 22, 1820)

On Sundays the rocker was taken to the old grass Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for the pastor’s wife. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

The rocking chair had its admirers, including Queen Kaʻahumanu.

“On seeing and trying Mrs B’s chair, the first, probably, ever made at those islands, Ka‘ahumanu, then in her haughty heathen state, wished me to make her one in every respect like it, for she said it exactly fit her.”

“Feeling no ambition to become chair maker to her Majesty, & having little or no time to devote to such purposes except as matters of necessity, I gave her little or no encouragement.”

“For a period of nine or ten years, she occasionally named the subject to me, but my time was demanded by what I thought more important work for the nation though I felt desirous to oblige her.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

Later, “I thought I might as healthful exercise & recreation, perform a good service for our cause by making the queen a rocking chair, in accordance with her continued wishes. But the difficulty which I felt originally, the want of tools & timber &c, I felt here in the wilderness.” (The Binghams were stationed in Waimea on the Island of Hawa‘ii at the time.)

“I easily constructed a rude lathe, the iron work of which consisted of a broken auger which I employed a native to cut in two with a small file, & with the parts inserted in head blocks, made the center points, on which I turned the parts of the chair which required turning, & that without a wheel.”

“They were made to revolve by a thong some yards in length from the hide of a wild bullock (taken in that region,) presented me by the friendly Mauae”.

“The dimensions, fashion and balance of the chair were made to correspond well with the one made for Mrs B in 1820. The hind posts are Koaia a Cloth Mallet wood which was hard to work. The ivory ferrules on the front posts are from the wild herds of those mountains.”

“The cloth was furnished by the queen; the brass nails and varnish were sent me by Mr Goodrich from Hilo about 100 miles distant. The side pieces arms and front posts are Koa a valuable wood, commonly selected for canoes, formerly, now used for various other purposes, as well as canoes.”

“When I closed my missionary sojourn at Waimea at the end of the year 1830, I traversed the wilderness with my family about 60 miles, having the chair carried with us, to the head of Kealakekua Bay, where I presented it to our Christian Queen near the spot where Cook fell 50 years before.”

“She highly prized it, and had it conveyed to her residence on O‘ahu, where she often used it with pleasure in her subsequent life.” (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

The Ka‘ahumanu rocking chair, modeled after Sybil’s, is one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawai‘i. At Kaahumanu’s death, the heirs returned it to Bingham and he gave it to the mission. (A reproduction of Ka‘ahumanu’s rocking chair is on display at the Hawaiian Mission Houses.)

Sybil’s rocking chair, “which a thousand times rested her weary frame & gave her much comfort … proved to be remarkably easy as to its form & balance, light, strong and durable having now been in use about 30 years”. (Bingham letter to H Hill, March 12, 1850)

In 1840, the Binghams left Honolulu for the United States, Sybil’s rocking chair was taken with them, and when they reached Boston Sybil refused to part with it for a fine piece of upholstered furniture.

Sybil’s wish was that when the last summons came she might be found in that chair … and her wish was granted when she died in her rocking chair on February 27, 1848 in New Haven Connecticut. (Restarick; Forward in Sybil Bingham’s Diary)

Sybil Bingham (L) Kaahumanu (R) Rocking_Chairs

July 21, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

ʻŌpūkahaʻia Leaves Hawaiʻi

Hostilities of Kamehameha’s conquest on Hawai‘i Island supposedly ended with the death of Keōua at Kawaihae Harbor in early-1792 and the placement of the vanquished chief’s body at Puʻukoholā Heiau at Kawaihae.

The island was under the rule of Kamehameha. However, after a short time, another chief entered into a power dispute with Kamehameha; his name was Nāmakehā.

In 1795, Kamehameha asked Nāmakehā, who lived in Kaʻū, Hawai‘i, for help in fighting Kalanikūpule and his Maui forces on O‘ahu, but Nāmakehā ignored the invitation. Instead, he opted to rebel against Kamehameha by tending to his enemies in Kaʻū, Puna and Hilo on Hawai‘i Island.

Hostilities erupted between the two. The battle took place at Hilo. Kamehameha defeated Nāmakehā; his warriors next turned their rage upon the villages and families of the vanquished. The alarm was given of their approach.

A family, who had supported Nāmakehā, the father (Ke‘au) taking his wife (Kamohoʻula) and two children fled to the mountains. There he concealed himself for several days with his family in a cave. (Brumaghim) The warriors found the family and killed the adults.

A survivor, a son, ʻŌpūkahaʻia, was at the age of ten or twelve; both his parents were slain before his eyes. The only surviving member of the family, besides himself, was an infant brother he hoped to save from the fate of his parents, and carried him on his back and fled from the enemy.

But he was pursued, and his little brother, while on his back, was killed by a spear from the enemy. Taken prisoner, because he was not young enough to give them trouble, nor old enough to excite their fears, ʻŌpūkahaʻia was not killed.

He was later turned over to his uncle, Pahua, who took him into his own family and treated him as his child. Pahua was a kahuna at Hikiʻau Heiau in Kealakekua Bay.

When Captain Vancouver visited the islands in the 1790s, he provided the following description of Hikiʻau:
“Adjoining one side of the Square was the great Morai (heiau,) where there stood a kind of steeple (‘anu‘u) that ran up to the height of 60 or 70 feet, it was in square form, narrowing gradually towards the top where it was square and flat; it is built of very slight twigs & laths, placed horizontally and closely, and each lath hung with narrow pieces of white Cloth.”

“… next to this was a House occupied by the Priests, where they performed their religious ceremonies and the whole was enclosed by a high railing on which in many parts were stuck skulls of those people, who had fallen victims to the Wrath of their Deity. …. In the center of the Morai stood a preposterous figure carved out of wood larger than life representing the … supreme deity… .”

John Papa ʻI‘i wrote that in ca. 1812-1813, shortly after Kamehameha’s return to Hawai‘i, the king celebrated the Makahiki and in the course of doing so he rededicated Hikiʻau, “the most important heiau in the district of Kona”.

This is the same place where Captain Cook landed on the Island of Hawaiʻi, across the bay from Hikiʻau Heiau is where Cook was later killed.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s uncle, wanting his nephew to follow him as a kahuna, taught ʻŌpūkahaʻia long prayers and trained him to the task of repeating them daily in the temple of the idol. This ceremony he sometimes commenced before sunrise in the morning, and at other times was employed in it during the whole or the greater part of the night.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia was not destined to be a kahuna.

He made a life-changing decision – not only which affected his life, but had a profound effect on the future of the Hawaiian Islands.

“I began to think about leaving that country, to go to some other part of the globe. I did not care where I shall go to. I thought to myself that if I should get away, and go to some other country, probably I may find some comfort, more than to live there, without father and mother.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

In 1807, he boarded an American a ship in Kealakekua Bay, the Triumph, under the command of Captain Brintnal; also on Board was Thomas Hopu. They set sail for New York, stopping first in China (selling seal-skins and loading the ship with Chinese goods.)

Also on Board was Russell Hubbard, a son of Gen. Hubbard of New Haven, Connecticut. “This Mr. Hubbard was a member of Yale College. He was a friend of Christ. Christ was with him when I saw him, but I knew it not. ‘Happy is the man that put his trust in God!’ Mr. Hubbard was very kind to me on our passage, and taught me the letters in English spelling-book.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

In 1809, they landed at New York and remained there until the Captain sold out all the Chinese goods. Then, they made their way to New England.

“In this place I become acquainted with many students belonging to the College. By these pious students I was told more about God than what I had heard before … Many times I wished to hear more about God, but find no body to interpret it to me. I attended many meetings on the sabbath, but find difficulty to understand the minister. I could understand or speak, but very little of the English language. Friend Thomas (Hopu) went to school to one of the students in the College before I thought of going to school.” (ʻŌpūkahaʻia)

ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s life in New England was greatly influenced by many young men with proven sincerity and religious fervor that were active in the Second Great Awakening and the establishment of the missionary movement. These men had a major impact on ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s enlightenment in Christianity and his vision to return to Hawaiʻi as a Christian missionary.

He was taken into the family of the Rev. Dr. Dwight, President of Yale College, for a season; where he was treated with kindness, and taught the first principles of Christianity. At length, Mr. Samuel J. Mills, took him under his particular patronage, and sent him to live with his father, the Rev. Mr. Mills of Torringford.

By 1817, a dozen students, six of them Hawaiians, were training at the Foreign Mission School to become missionaries to teach the Christian faith to people around the world.

ʻŌpūkahaʻia improved his English by writing; the story of his life was later assembled into a book called “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah” (the spelling of his name based on its sound, prior to establishment of the formal Hawaiian alphabet.) ʻŌpūkahaʻia, inspired by many young men with proven sincerity and religious fervor of the missionary movement, had wanted to spread the word of Christianity back home in Hawaiʻi; his book inspired 14-missionaries to volunteer to carry his message to the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawaiʻi.)

On October 23, 1819, the Pioneer Company of missionaries from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) from the northeast United States, set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.)

There were seven couples sent to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity. These included two Ordained Preachers, Hiram Bingham and his wife Sybil and Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy; two Teachers, Mr. Samuel Whitney and his wife Mercy and Samuel Ruggles and his wife Mary; a Doctor, Thomas Holman and his wife Lucia; a Printer, Elisha Loomis and his wife Maria; a Farmer, Daniel Chamberlain, his wife and five children.

Along with them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School at Cornwall Connecticut, Thomas Hopu (his friend on board the ship when he first left the Islands,) William Kanui, John Honoliʻi and Prince Humehume (son of Kauaiʻi’s King Kaumuali‘i and also known as Prince George Kaumuali‘i.)

Unfortunately, ʻŌpūkahaʻia died suddenly of typhus fever in 1818 and did not fulfill his dream of returning to the islands to preach the gospel. (The bulk of the information here is from ʻŌpūkahaʻia’s “Memoirs of Henry Obookiah” and Papaʻula, 1867 in Brumaghim)

June 5, 2026 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Ka‘ahumanu’s Death

Almost 200 years ago, the American Protestant missionaries arrived in the Islands. Their leader was Reverend Hiram Bingham – Sybil … his wife of 2-weeks … joined him. They are my great-great-great grandparents.

They were preachers and teachers. It was important to them that Hawaiians had a personal experience reading the written “Word of the God of Heaven;” but back then, Hawaiian was only spoken, not written. That meant that each needed to learn to read.

So, Hiram and others developed an alphabet and formulated a written language, taught Hawaiians to be literate in their own language and translated the Bible for them to read. The missionaries learned the language, and were soon teaching their lessons in Hawaiian, rather than English.

As teaching expanded, the missionaries’ focus was on the Head, Heart and Hand. In addition to the rigorous academic drills (Head,) the schools provided religious and moral guidance (Heart,) and manual and vocational training (Hand.)

In collaboration with the aliʻi, Hiram and the other missionaries:
• Introduced Christianity to the Islands
• Created the written Hawaiian language and brought about widespread literacy
• Helped formulate a constitutional government
• Made Western medicine available, and
• Introduced a distinctive musical tradition with harmony and choral singing

About a year after Hiram arrived, Kaʻahumanu visited the mission and gave them supplies; it was the first time she showed interest in the teachings of the missionaries, and her first request for prayer. From that point on, Kaʻahumanu came into constant contact with the mission.

Hiram found a friend in Kaʻahumanu – she and other ali‘i visited often. In the wood frame house at Missions Houses, you can correctly say, “Kaʻahumanu slept here.”

A little side story on Hiram and Kaʻahumanu … shortly after arriving in the Islands, with a piece of driftwood, Hiram made a rocking chair for his wife – in describing it, Sybil said, “A box or trunk has been our only seat. My husband, I believe, was never a chair-maker before, but happy for me and the Mission family, that he is everything.”

On Sundays, the rocker was taken to the thatched Kawaiahaʻo church as a seat for Sybil, the pastor’s wife. Her wish was that when she died, she might be found in that chair … her wish was granted when she died in her rocker on February 27, 1848.

The rocker had its admirers, including Kaʻahumanu. She asked Hiram to make her one just like it – he did, it is one of the earliest known pieces of koa furniture in Hawaiʻi.

That was not the only gift Hiram gave Kaʻahumanu.

In 1825, Kaʻahumanu was baptized. Lucy Thurston noted, “She became distinguished for her humility, kindness and the affability of her deportment, regarded the missionaries as her own children, and treated them with the tenderness of maternal love.”

Lucy continued, “Her influence and authority had long been paramount and undisputed with the natives, and was now discreetly used for the benefit of the nation.”

In mid-1832, Kaʻahumanu became ill and was taken to her home in Mānoa. Hiram came to her bedside. “Her strength failed daily.”

Hiram noted, “About the last words she used were: ‘Here, here am I, O Jesus, … Grant me a gracious smile.’”

“A little after this she called (Hiram) to her and as (he) took her hand, she asked. ‘Is this Bingham?’ (He) replied, ‘It is I.’”

She finished, “‘I am going now.’” Hiram replied: “‘May Jesus go with you, go in peace.’”

Hiram noted, “The slow and solemn tolling of the bell struck on the pained ear as it had never done before in the Sandwich Islands.”

“In other bereavements, after the Gospel took effect, we had not only had the care and promise of our heavenly Father, but a queen-mother remaining, whose force, integrity, and kindness, could be relied on still.”

“But words can but feebly express the emotions that struggled in the bosoms of some who counted themselves mourners in those solemn hours; while memory glanced back through her most singular history, and faith followed her course onward far into the future.”

Her death took place at ten minutes past 3 o’clock on the morning of June 5, 1832, “after an illness of about 3 weeks in which she exhibited her unabated attachment to the Christian teachers and reliance on Christ, her Saviour.” (Hiram Bingham)

Hiram’s gift to Kaʻahumanu … and one that he shared with all Hawaiians across the Islands … was love … and hope … and guidance to the way of the Lord, salvation and eternal life.

Kaahumanu,_retouched_image_by_J._J._Williams_after_Louis_Choris

May 18, 2026 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Pulukai

“There is no doubt that it was a result of Kuakini’s cordiality toward the missionaries’ work that the first mission station on Hawai‘i Island was established shortly after the delegation‘s tour.”

“The Rev. Asa Thurston and his wife Lucy returned to Kailua in November of 1823 to take up the work that they had had to abandon in 1820 …”

“… the following January, they were joined by the Rev. Artemas Bishop and his wife. Kuakini gave houselots to both couples, and the ‘government,’ as represented by Ka‘ahumanu, gave them a part of Hienaloli for the mission’s support.” (Marion Kelly)

“In 1824 the Rev. Asa Thurston reported a population of not less than 20,000 inhabitants along a 30-mile stretch of the Kona coast, including the 3,000 at Kailua itself. Most of the people lived close to the seacoast, with another belt of residence about 2 miles inland.” (Marion Kelly)

As noted in Lucy Thurston’s writing, in 1829 “a new and general excitement commenced. At the dawn of day they tapped at our doors with the anxious inquiry, ‘What shall I do.’”

“All regulations were prostrated, and from day-break till ten o’clock at night, one company succeeded another in rapid succession.”

“Mr Thurston has only been able to command time for his meals.”

“From morning till night he has been in his study chair, with an individual or a cluster at his feet; sometimes a company of fifty or sixty, which entirely filled the room.”

“Some days we have received calls from several hundreds. I devote as much time to the instruction of the women as I can redeem from my family.”

“My labors are more particularly directed to the members of the Friday Female Meeting. Two years ago their names were enrolled and a discipline introduced. A moral standard was raised.”

“Whoever wished to join the Society must forsake all their former vile practices, and pay an external regard to the Word and Worship of God.”

“They must uniformly have a full covering for their persons, both at home and abroad, and follow whatever is lovely and of good report.”

“Such has since been the change in public opinion, that scenes which were then familiar to the eve, would now be scouted out of the village as shameful indecencies.”

“This Society has prospered; for in two years, from seventy it has increased to fifteen hundred.”

“The names of five hundred have been enrolled within the last three weeks. These are all divided into classes, and each class has a particular teacher to whom to look for instruction. The number of female teachers has risen to twenty, all hopefuly pious.”

“This is my class. I teach them what I wish them to teach others. The men’s society is conducted on the same plan. Two large thatched houses have been erected for the accommodation of these societies.”

“I will introduce you to one of the many in whom I feel most interested, named Pulukai. Not that he is the most important character among us, yet in works of love none surpass him.”

“I know not where he acquired his politeness, but probably abroad, as he has visited foreign ports. He is here nearly every day, yet he never comes into our presence but he bows, presents his hand to his face, and all so heartily, and with so much reverence (as if some great personage stood before him for the first time) that it always makes me smile.”

“His presence never fails to give me pleasure.”

“The other day he spoke with tears of his former state and feelings. He said: ‘I returned home from the north-west coast, and found my former friends were all dead.’”

“‘One day I went back into a solitary place, and there I remained, and walked, and wept. It was not for my soul, – I neither knew nor thought about that, – but I wept for my body …’”

“‘for if I should die, I had no friend that would bury it; it would lie and decay on the face of the earth, and when any person passed along and asked, ‘Who is that?’ – the reply would be: ‘It is Pulukai.’”

“‘But now I have many friends. They give me food and clothes. They are kind to me while I am living, and they will take care of my body when I am dead. It is because the love of God is in their hearts.”

“During the sickness of Mrs. Bishop, his anxieties were employed about that part which is of more importance than his poor body.”

“I shall ever remember, that one day as I went to the door to smooth the couch for her emaciated form, and stood seeing her borne away, reflecting that the manele [a couch for conveyance, having men placed at the head and foot, who carry it by means of poles resting on their shoulders] must soon be exchanged for the bier …”

“… that Pulukai, who had been watching his opportunity for a word of instruction, came up to me, saying, he had passed three sleepless nights thinking about his sins, and his exposure to eternal death.”

“It was a short time after, that the love of Jesus became his theme and his life and conversation have since given abundant evidence that he was taught of God.”

“Humility and love were the characteristics of Pulukai, and they shed a luster over the tawny features of our humble friend.” (Lucy Thurston, 1829)