INTRODUCTION.

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sident at the Friendly Islands during thespace of four years; and, my curiositybeing strongly excited, I solicited his ac-quaintance. In the course of three orfour interviews I discovered, with much' satisfaction, that the information he wasable to communicate respecting the peo-ple with whom he had been so longand so intimately associated was very farsuperior to any thing that had yet ap-peared before the public. His answers toseveral inquiries, regarding their religion,government, and habits of life, were givenwith that kind of unassuming confidencewhich bespeaks a thorough intimacy withthe subject, and carries with it the convic-tion of truth:—in fact, having been thrownupon those islands at an early age, hisyoung and flexible mind had so accordeditself with the habits and circumstances ofthe natives, that he could not feel any dis-position to overrate or embellish what tohim was neither strange nor new. To myinquiries respecting his intentions of pub-lishing, he replied, that having necessarilybeen, for several years, out of the habit