DR. RUSSELL'S POLYNESIA.

THE object of this volume is to present a succinct view of the geography, natural productions, and social condition of the Poly- nesian Islands, especially in regard to the introduction, progress, and civilizing effects of Christianity. The region treated of by Dr. RUSSELL includes Polynesia in the largest sense ; embracing the Sandwich Isles on the North, New Zealand on the South, Pitcairn's Isle and the Marqueaan groupe on the West, with, towards the East, the New Hebrides, the Ladrone, and the little-known islands scattered along the coast of New Guinea, and in the ocean that stretches towards the Indian archipelago. The plan of the work is comprehensive, and sufficiently well arranged. It commences with a survey of the physical aspect and character of the region, an investigation into the origin of the people, (which Dr. RUSSELL, following the now most generally received opinion, ascribes to Asia,) a brief account of the condition of the Polyne- sians when first discovered by Europeans, and of the steps which

have brought them to their present state. The volume then presents a short historical notice of each groupe, from its first discovery to the period of the last account received concerning it ; and an elaborate inquiry into the past and present condition of Poly- nesia, with the character of the conversion of the people and their future prospects, concludes the work. In the historical sketches, no particular order is followed ; as they commence with the Society Islands and end with New Zealand,—though the priority of their

discovery seems to have been floating in Dr. RUSSELL'S mind as

the best ground of selection. In the treatment, however, respect is had to the importance of the subjects; as New Zealand for its • rising colonial importance, the Sandwich Islands for the apparent advance of the people in civilization, and the Society groupe for the interest attached to Otaheite and its inhabitants, as well as from its eminence in a missionary point of view.

Like all the publications of the Edinburgh Cabinet Library, Poly- nesia displays the results ofgreat industry and careful skill. A person pretty well read in the voyages and Missionary accounts of the last and present century may find little that is new ; but the volume col- lects for him into a focus the principal results deducible from the original authorities, except the spirit of adventure which animates their pages ; while, for the common reader, Polynesia is a hand-book of information, that will either supply him with as much as he de- sires to know, or direct him to those writers who will inform him more fully on any particular topic he may wish to pursue further. It should also be observed, that Dr. RUSSELL has had access to a manuscript journal, written by "a distinguished officer" who re- sided for many years in that quarter of the globe ; and he draws much of his missionary information from religious periodicals—a species of publication whose readers, however numerous, are limited to one class.

In point of literary character, the book is in the main a compi- lation; but it is a compilation of a superior kind. In addition to extensive reading and skilful selection, Dr. RUSSELL brings to his task a well-stored mind and a cultivated style, always clear and frequently rising to eloquence; though we suspect that some of the most eloquent passages are inspired by the original writers. The distinctive feature of the book, however, is the position and reli- gious views of the author. In Dr. RUSSELL we have an Episcopa- lian clergyman reviewing the religious changes that have taken place in the South Sea groupes, with the spiritual and secular results that have flowed from them, and striking the balance be- tween the natural bias of the missionary to exaggerate the effects of his labours and of certain maritime writers to depreciate them altogether. It may be true that Dr. RUSSELL has a bias of theological rivalry, and may feel inclined perhaps to look upon the missionary- mechanic as a kind of religious backwoodsman, only desirable as opening the region to a superior class of settlers ; but we think his judgment upon the whole sound and fair, and by no means dis- posed to press hard upon the missionaries, or unduly to depreciate their labours.

The general conclusion to which Dr. RUSSELL comes is, that the moral and civiiizing effects of the conversions are great and bene- ficial, but that in very few cases can they be attributed to religious knowledge or spiritual zeal ; nor can they be relied upon as perma- nent against external influences, unless the work be followed up with more judgment than the missionaries have sometimes dis- played. In fact, Dr. RUSSELL maintains, and enforces at large, the position we laid down some years ago in reviewing WILLIAMS'S Missionary Enterprises—that the facility of conversion among a barbarous people is rather owing to their inferiority in the arts than to any spiritual sense of religion ; whilst he goes further than we did in doubting whether the conversion is not more formal and

transient—and perhaps correctly. In support of his views, he ad- duces a variety of examples, showing that the hopes of avoiding impending evil, or a desire to obtain temporal benefits, have been the ruling motives of the chiefs; whilst the people have supinely followed their rulers. In quoting some of the most curious ex-

amples, we may observe that Dr. RUSSELL considers we should

civilize before we attempt to christianize; an opinion equally op- posed to the practice of the sectarian missionaries and the theory

of those Churchmen who hold, with Mr. GLADSTONE, that there is an occult virtue in baptism, apart from any intellectual operation by the recipient.

GENERAL REASONS FOR POLYNESIAN CONVERSION.

It is obvious, that in most cases of conversion at the Navigators and other islands, the change was not effected by any intelligible appeal either to the rea- son or the conscience. Disgusted with their native idolatry, and alarmed by the appalling demands which it occasionally made upon their lives, they lent a ready ear to any teacher, however little qualified by knowledge or expe- rience, who could tell them of a more powerful god and a less sanguinary wor- thili. Nor were they blind to the advantages of civilization and to the com- forts with which it is always associated. " It is my wish," said one of the chiefs, " that the Christian religion should become universal among us. I look at the wisdom of these worshipers of Jehovah, and see how superior they are to us in every respect. Their ships are like floating houses, so that they can traverse the tempest-driven ocean for months with perfect safety ; whereas if a breeze blow upon our canoes, they are in an instant upset, and we thrown into the sea. Their persons also are covered from head to foot in beautiful clothes ; while we wear nothing but a girdle of leaves. Now I conclude, that the God who has given to his white worshipers these valuable things must be wiser than our Gods, for they have not given the like to us. We want all these

articles; and my proposition is, that the God who gave them should be our God."

A PRUDENT CONVERT.

3fIliet011, the sovereign ruler of the larger islands, gave instructions to one of his soon to build a chapel, while he himself was engaged in a sanguinary war with certain neighbours who bad inflicted an injury on his family. Peace bung restored, he resolved to open the house of prayer with due formality ; but, not knowing what effect the change of religion might have on the fortunes of his house, he called his children together, and informed them that he was now about to profess, in a public manner, his belief in Jehovah, and to take part in his worship. With one accord they approved of his determination, and assured him that they would all follow the same course. But to this he objected, declaring that if they did so he would adhere to the old system ; add- ing, as a reason, hat perhaps the waive gods might be angry with him for deserting their altars, while it was doubtful whether the deity lately revealed to his knowledge bad power to protect him against the effects of their wrath. He therefore proposed that he alone should try the experiment; and if he sustained no injury, his sons might then join him in the new ceremonies. " If Jehovah can shield me, you may with safety follow my example ; but if not, I only shall fall a victim to their vengeance—you will be safe."

INDIFFERENCE OF THE SANDWICH ISLANDERS ON THE ABOLITION OF THEIR RELIGION BY THEIR SOVEREIGN.

The views of the common people being less disguised, were more easily com- prehended. When asked by the Missionaries, who was their god, they said they had none ; formerly they bad many, but now, having cast them all away, they worshipped no idol. Being interrogated whether they bad done well in rejecting them, they replied in the affirmative ; for the taboo occasioned much labour and inconvenience, besides draining off the best part of their property. They were asked whether it was a good thing to have no god, and to recog- nize no being to whom they ought to render religious homage. To this they answered, that perhaps it was good ; for they had not to provide for the great sacrifices, and were under no fear of punishment for breaking taboo: that now one fire cooked their food, and men and women ate together the same kind of provisions.

The following case, adduced by Dr. RUSSELL as an example of a convert through "reason," scarcely seems a correct instance. The islander had tested by experiment the futility of the old religion, but it does not appear that he made any inquiry into the principles of the new.

" An intelligent native of Otabeite, it ought to be mentioned, proceeded on a different principle, and was converted by his reason and not by his fears. It is well known that a custom prevailed of offering pigs to the deity ; which, for this purpose, were placed on a species of altar at the moral. From that moment they were considered sacred ; and if afterwards any human being, the priests excepted, dared to commit so great a sacrilege as to partake of the offering, it was supposed that the offended god would punish the crime with instant death. The individual in question thought a breach of this law would be a fair criterion of the power of the idol ; and accordingly stole some of the consecrated meat, and retired to a solitary part of the wood to eat it, and perhaps to die. As he was partaking of the food, he expected at each mouthful to experience the vengeance he was provoking; but having waited a considerable time in awful suspense, and finding himself rather refreshed than otherwise by his meal, he quitted the retreat and went quietly home. For several days he kept his secret ; but finding no bad effects from the transgression, he disclosed it to every one, renounced his religion, and embraced Christianity."

The mooted and melancholy point, the gradual extinction of savage nations when in contact with Europeans, is also handled by Dr. RUSSELL ; but without throwing much new or hopeful light upon the subject. Indeed, his opinion inclines to the necessity of their extinction, let us strive how we may, as a mystery which we cannot fathom; although a register of births and deaths kept by the Missionaries at some of the islands rather points to an in- crease in the population of late years. The following is a fact worth preserving. " It is a singular fact, recorded i ed by the Missionaries, that disease has followed their steps in most of the islands which they have visited, even where no such personal intercourse has taken place as would afford an explanation on the ordi- nary principles of medical science. A similar observation applies to New Zea- land, where the people appear to have laboured under sickness hitherto un- known. A professional gentleman, whose services were required at the station of Kaitai, writes as follows—' I regret to state that there has been more dis- ease among them during this period than has ever been observed at any previ- ous epoch of their history. Its nature also appears to be quite new, and such as they appear never to have suffered from before. It has, in many of its fea- tures, resembled the influenza prevailing of late years in England, which brought with it so much mortality ; and this in like manner has been very destructive.' In allusion to another ailment, the same writer observes, that ' the epidemic from which they have been more recently suffering. has been more general, and of much more serious results to them. By it their numbers have been sadly thinned, and many have been carried off in a sudden and unex- pected manner. It appears to have been of an erysipelatous character, and pro- duced by the same causes as the former affection. During the last two months, the applications from the natives for the relief of this disease have been almost incessant ; and at Paihaia alone I should think medicine has been administered to not fewer than twelve hundred patients.'" A similar fatality in disease has been observed at some of the stations of the Hudson's Bay Company, and, we believe, on the great outskirts of civilization—the Western border of the United States. It has been attributed, but on no authority that we know of, to some malaria arising from breaking up the virgin soil. But this cause, though possible, seems unlikely to have operated in the smaller Polynesian islands or New Zealand, at the time in ques- tion ; as native cultivation had begun long before, and that of the Missionaries proceeded slowly, irregularly, and by small patches. A constitutional change from drinking ardent sprits, and other indulgences, which renders the savage more obnoxious to disease, seems a more likely cause : but in some of the islands, where mis- sionaries only have been, spirits have not been introduced. The question deserves medical consideration.