 as strange and barbarous as ever.
The missionaries, sent on a heavenly errand, had sailed by their lovely shores,
and had abandoned them to their idols of wood and stone. How interesting the
circumstances under which they were discovered! In the watery path of Mendanna,
cruising in quest of some region of gold, these isles had sprung up like a scene
of enchantment, and for a moment the Spaniard believed his bright dream was
realised. In honour of the Marquess de Mendoza, then viceroy of Peru - under
whose auspices the navigator sailed - he bestowed upon them the name which
denoted the rank of his patron, and gave to the world, on his return, a vague
and magnificent account of their beauty. But these islands, undisturbed for
years, relapsed into their previous obscurity; and it is only recently that
anything has been known concerning them. Once in the course of a half-century,
to be sure, some adventurous rover would break in upon their peaceful repose,
and, astonished at the unusual scene, would be almost tempted to claim the merit
of a new discovery.
    Of this interesting group, but little account has ever been given, if we
except the slight mention made of them in the sketches of South Sea voyages.
Cook, in his repeated circumnavigations of the globe, barely touched at their
shores; and all that we know about them is from a few general narratives. Among
these, there are two that claim particular notice. Porter's Journal of the
Cruise of the U.S. frigate »Essex,« in the Pacific, during the late War, is said
to contain some interesting particulars concerning the islanders. This is a
work, however, which I have never happened to meet with; and Stewart, the
chaplain of the American sloop of war Vincennes, has likewise devoted a portion
of his book, entitled A Visit to the South Seas, to the same subject.
    Within the last few years, American and English vessels engaged in the
extensive whale fisheries of the Pacific have occasionally, when short of
provisions, put into the commodious harbour which there is in one of the
islands; but a fear of the natives, founded on the recollection of the dreadful
fate which many white men have received at their hands, has deterred their crews
from intermixing with the population sufficiently to gain any insight into their
peculiar customs and manners.
    The Protestant Missions appear to have despaired of reclaiming these islands
from heathenism. The usage they have in every case received from the natives has
been such as to intimidate the boldest of their number. Ellis, in his Polynesian
