HOSPITABLE PORT OF LAHAINA. 59 CHAPTER III. LAHAINA AND ITS ENVIRONS ON THE ISLAND OF MAUI. HAPPY, oh! happy he, who not affecting ANON. Good-bye to Hawaii-Grateful reminiscences-The continental character of missionaries-Portraiture of a good priest-Run to Maui by whale-ship-Facilities for recruiting at Lahaina-Seamen's chaplain-Gratuitous services of missionaries-Sailors always careless when not cared for-Winding up of a liberty-day at Lahaina, in the season of ships-An honorable pre-eminence-Hawaiians a surf-playing-Sea-bathing a national passion-Array of arguments for the people supporting their own ministers-Peculiar advantages at Lahaina-The Hawaiian democracy-Remarkable running out of the race of rulers-Precious dust in God's acre-Character and influence of the high chief Hoapili-A striking anecdote-Vistas of prophecy opened--Tendency of things--Cheering progress. TURN we now, in prosecuting this survey of the moral Heart of the Pacific, to another portion of the Hawaiian group. We pay a reluctant farewell to the hospitable Island of Hawaii, in whose missionary families, churches, and schools, as portrayed in "The Island World of the Pacific," I find myself to have become more deeply interested than I could have believed. The friendships of studious years have been renewed. New ones, that will be ever cherished and fragrant, have been formed. The good fruits of the Gospel, and the benign results of faithful missionary labor, have been observed; and a debt incurred of that kind which, while it cannot be cancelled from the mint, a debtor loves to be paying, and a creditor to be receiving from the mental mine of genuine affection, good wishes, and prayers. It is that kind of obligation which a truly hospitable and good man likes to have others under to himself, and it is the only debt which does not worry, and which he is willing to be burdened with himself, as answering the apostolic injunction, To owe no man any thing, but to love one another. It is a commodity which it were happy indeed if all Christians lived so much within their means, and with such true Christian simplicity and prudence, as to be able to pay all their debts in. The pressure of the times would be little felt if a plenty of that were in circulation, and if discounts were oftener made between man and man in that genuine currency. Its quality, like that of mercy, is not strained, Both blessing him that gives and him that takes. It is of the kind words, attentions, hospitality, and help which love dictates between friend and friend, and from his host to the traveller, and which humanity calls for from the rich and prospered in society to the unfortunate and needy, that our American poet Dana says, They make not poor: Lord Bacon, too, has beautifully said, If a man be gracious to strangers, it shows that he is a citizen of the world, and that his heart is no island cut off from other A TRIBUTE TO AMERICAN MISSIONARIES. 61 lands, but a continent that joins them. The friends with whom I have been sojourning, are eminently continental in their make and their manners. With the great Continent of Humanity, and every member of it, they are closely allied, and nothing human is foreign to them. Though their range be but an island, their sympathies embrace the world; and the sweep of their prayers and their charities is as wide as that of the glorious ocean that laves their shores. A man that lives to do good, (the only life worth living,) may think himself well off to have his lot cast among the missionary band of Hawaii. Assured of a steady living, and delivered from so much that is artificial and hollow in society, they have only to devote themselves to their families and to their proper missionary work. Theirs is not the bread of idleness. And if they labor hard, and have some discouragements and trials, not easily appreciated by men that live in America, they have the solace, too, that their toil is not unblessed, and that the sympathy and prayers of many are with them. Some of them realize to a rare degree Bishop Ken's portraiture of "A Good Priest:" Give me the Priest these graces shall possess: Of an ambassador the just address; A father's tenderness, a shepherd's care, A leader's courage, which the cross can bear; A ruler's awe, a watchman's wakeful eye, A teacher's knowledge, and a Saviour's love. They are a united and affectionate body, that have eminently the confidence and love one of another, and they have the confidence and love of the Hawaiians to the utmost. May it be so always, and may every fresh accession to their forces be an accession of executive and moral strength! May peace be on them and mercy, and upon the Israel of God of which they have the charge! Peace be within her walls. May they. prosper that love thee. For my brethren and companions' sake I will now say, Peace be within you. The disability of bodily indisposition prevented my making the tour of Hilo and Puna with the pastor, Rev. Mr. Coan, and afterwards going across Mauna Kea to Waimea, the station occupied by Rev. Lorenzo Lyons. I wished, also, to be near at hand to this port in the shipping season, in order to take advantage of any good opportunity that might occur for America. Taking passage, therefore, in a whale-ship that touched at Hilo for supplies, I am here, after an easy run of two days. The roadstead of Lahaina, as usual in spring and fall, is anchored in all over by large whale-ships, that have come in from the different cruising-grounds of the Pacific to recruit, where supplies of all kinds can be obtained on more advantageous terms, and with less detriment to the men, than at any other place in this ocean. It has been visited the last two seasons, fall and spring, by about four hundred ships, that spend on an average, at a very moderate estimate, three hundred dollars each, making the sum-total of $120,000 yearly disbursements at this port. The estimated value of the |