ART. X.

State of Christianity in the Island of Otaheite, and a De fence of the pure Precepts of the Gospel, against modern Antichrists, with Reasons for the ill Success which attends Christian Missionaries in their Attempts to convert the Heathens. By a Foreign Traveller. 8vo. pp. 175. Boards. Richardson, &c.

1811.

WE have been informed that the author of this work is a Dane,

and, as appears by the dedication, of the name of Jorgensen; who visited Otaheite in 1806, while mate of a vessel which was engaged in the southern whale-fishery. His ship having twice touched at the island, and having been detained there some months, he found repeated opportunities of observing the state of the mission, concerning which various discouraging facts are here related. That Mr. Jorgensen is not friendly to the scheme of proselytism, which has been attempted by the Christian colonists, is evident from the prevailing character of his remarks, of which we shall offer the following decisive specimen :

It it but justice to observe, that there was one of the missionaries on the island, whom we must distinguish in a particular manner from the rest. Jeffrison was his name: a man truly pious, and who led a most exemplary life. But though he thus appeared to be a perfect Christian, yet, by some almost unaccountable means his ministry had become of no use. In a luxuriant climate, like that of Otaheite, where mirth, good nature, and beauty reign uncontroled, it is natural to suppose that strangers must be exposed to many temptations. The apostle, when he holds forth to the natives, and sees himself surrounded with a number of beautiful and naked females, soon feels the strongest emotions excited in his breast. And, if his eyes happen to meet those of his more artful hearer, she is sure of darting at him such a look, which I shall not here attempt to describe, at the same time smiling and shewing two rows of teeth whiter than the finest alabaster. The saint is thrown off his guard, and we see religion prostrate at the feet of female beauty. But now the malignant and triumphant Otaheitean shews her just contempt for the sanctified hypocrite, who a few minutes before expatiated on chastity, temperance, and virtue ; and, so far from bestowing on him the favour he thinks so easily to obtain, he is repulsed with the most severe rebuke, for presuming to make a crime of following the irresistible dictates of nature, and which he now proves by his own actions cannot be resisted.

These were the temptations Mr. Jeffrison attempted to avoid, but in so doing he could neither preach nor teach. The hours of prayers only excepted, he was generally locked up by himself, and he was in the truest sense of the word mortifying the flesh. But this holy man seemed for all that not to be happy. He was oppressed with the weight of the spirit, and he continually uttered the most dismal and hollow groans; and he doubted whether his regular life and deportment would entitle him to eternal salvation. When I looked on the emaciated victim, I could not help feeling the deepest sentiments of compassion

compassion for a fellow creature. He was never seen smiling, nor to enjoy a moment's happiness, and to us it appeared as if religion was to him the most terrible scourge. He had the appearance of a ghost: his skin was tinged with a yellow and deadly hue, like a man who has the jaundice; and his looks were dejected and gloomy. The reader may form a more correct idea of this unhappy man than possibly I can give him, if ever he has passed Bedlam, in London, and observed the two famous figures which are to be seen there: the one representing a man who is raving mad, and the other, one who is melancholy mad. The former has the full resemblance to the missionary who went crazy, on account of Oreepiah's wife, and the latter is the exact likeness of Mr. Jeffrison.

Perhaps Mr. Jeffrison's austere looks and manners have done more to deter the natives from Christianity than the irregular life of the other missionaries. The Otaheiteans reluctantly embrace the religion of a God whom they are taught deals out eternal damnation and ever. lasting punishment with an unfeeling and an unmerciful hand. “No! no!" say they, "let us keep the God we have got; it is of no use to 66 change a better for a worse." However, to shew their strange notions of our religion, I shall relate one or two facts, which came within my own knowledge during my stay on the island.

It must be observed, that the natives of Otaheite, as well as all other heathens among whom I have been, believe that Christ is our chief God, and that the Creator is subordinate to him. The King, though he professed to have a great reverence for our Saviour, yet refused to part with his Otaheitean God, so that he might have two strings to his bow. But he discerned fast enough, that the Chris tians were far superior to his own subjects in valor and discipline, which he ascribed principally to the confidence we placed in our fire arms. He imagined that Christ had invented them, and instructed us in the use of them, wherefore the natives gave him the title of God of Firearms and Deadly Weapons. The King, in order to make his subjects believe that he was more particularly in favor with the God who appeared the stronger of the two, gravely told all his chiefs and the surrounding multitude, one morning, that he dreamt in the night that Jesus Christ and the Otaheitean deity had been in his house, and presently began to quarrel. Christ immediately seized a large broomstick, and knocked the other down without mercy, and only for the interference of the King he would surely have been killed. The greater part of the people swallowed down this ingenious piece of nonsense, but the more enlightened chiefs smiled significantly at each other, and it was easy to observe that they understood the drift of the whole story, which tended to nothing but to make the people believe that he had secret communications with our formidable God.

6

The reigning King's mother was married to Otoo, King of Uli teeah, and dependent on the Otaheitean monarch. He was a man of about six feet four inches in height, and certainly made a very awkward appearance among the more elegant inhabitants of Otaheite. He was excessively intemperate, and would drink brandy till he lost. all his senses. When he came on board our ship to visit us the first time after our arrival in Matavia Bay, he put on a most hypocritical REV. Nov. 1811. X and

and sanctified face, crying, "Master Christ, very good, very fine "fellow; me love Christ like my own brother. Give me one glass

of brandy." His request was instantly complied with, and the oftener we filled his glass the more he pretended to love our Saviour, calling him the blessed, and many other such expressions, which he imagined pleased us greatly, at the same time cursing and damning his own native god without hesitation. But, after drinking nearly a pint of strong liquor, his Majesty became so noisy and so rude, that there was no bearing his insolence any longer: he seized on a whole leg of mutton which stood on the table, took it up in his hands, and began to gnaw it with his great and ugly teeth. On resenting his outrageous and beastly behaviour, in spoiling our dinner, he got into such a rage, that he insisted upon having one more glass of brandy, if not he would recant all he had said in favor of Christ. However, we thought proper to refuse his request, on which he began to roar with all his might, "Damn Christ! Christ very bad; Otaheite God "fine fellow." After which he jumped overboard, and swam on shore, uttering the most horrid imprecations against our supposed God, because he could get no more brandy from us.'

Many other particulars interspersed in the book are equally curious and instructive. It is justly and forcibly stated that, besides the occasional lapses of the missionaries themselves, the licentious conduct of the seamen of vessels which come to Otaheite materially contributes to excite, in the minds of the natives, doubts of the truth and efficacy of that religion, of which the inculcators and professors are unable to exemplify the doctrines by their practice. We think that this is an ob stacle, among others, to the success of the missionaries, which will not easily be surmounted.

tion.

In general, however, too large a portion of Mr. Jorgensen's pages is taken up with controversial or philosophical declamaHe introduces an imaginary heathen, a South-sea freethinker, arguing against the doctrine of the missionaries with the management and ingenuity of a Gottingen student; and, no doubt, it is somewhat mortifying that, of all the ecclesiastics who have been sent into these islands, the only one who appears to have been of any practical utility should be the youth who apostatized from Christianity; and who, by his example at Tongataboo, taught to the natives not the religion but the horticulture of Europe. The mission of the Pennsyl vanian Quakers, which instructed the Indians how to make cheese, is the proper model for diffusing useful knowlege among the uncivilized. The simpler arts of maintenance are to be introduced before schools can be instituted; and schools for reading and writing must have been habitually attended for at least seven years, before so abstruse a religion as the Christian can without profanation be explained.

Some

Some loyal thoughts on sects and establishments prolong and terminate the volume.

ART. XI. Gazetteer of England and Wales: containing the Statistics. Agriculture, and Mineralogy, of the Counties; the History, Antiquities, Curiosities, Manufactures, Trade, Commerce, Fairs, Markets, Charitable and other Institutions, Population, and elective Franchises, of the Cities, Towns, and Boroughs; including a complete Index Villaris, with the Bearings and Dis. tance of each Village and Mansion from the nearest Market Town. Illustrated by two large Maps, descriptive of the Roads, and Inland Navigation. By Thomas Potts. 8vo. 11. 7s. Boards. Rivingtons, &c.

COMPILATIONS of this description class among the most use

ful publications, and become valuable in proportion to their extent and correctness. Absolute accuracy and complete fulness cannot be expected: but if, in point of comparison, a new work manifests greater diligence, and surpasses all its predecessors in the variety, range, multiplicity, and importance of its information, we are required to announce it to the public in terms of commendation. On this ground, Mr. Potts's Gazetteer of England and Wales is unquestionably intitled to a very favourable report; since it is, we believe, the most comprehensive and amusing work of the kind that has hitherto appeared among us. We cannot pronounce it to be unalloyed by omissions and errors; for even the cursory examination which we have given it has discovered to us some defects: but it would seem ill-natured to carp at trifles when we cast our eyes on such a vast mass of information. Mr. Potts's diligence and judgment are conspicuous, and he has not neglected in his advertisement to recount the sources from which he derived his materials; while at the same time he thus explains the mode of arrangement which he has adopted:

1. (After the name of the place), the Hundred, County, &c. 2. Distance from London; or Villages, Seats, &c. from the nearest market town.

3. Bearings from London, or nearest town, &c.

4. Population.

5. Elective Franchises.

6. Public Buildings, &c.

7. Trade, Commerce, Manufactures.

8. History, Antiquities, &c.

The Hundred, Wapentake, Ward, Lathe, Soke, Rape, or other jurisdiction, were furnished by their Poor-returns, being copied from the endorsement.

X 2

• The

The Distance from London: by the admeasurements allowed by the General Post-Office.

The Bearings; by Faden's large map.

The Population; by the abstract of the population act.

The Elective Franchises; by Willis's Notitia Parliamentaria, and Oldfield's History of Boroughs.

The Public Buildings, Situation, Corporation, Civil Jurisdiction, &c. by the History of the County.

The Trade, Commerce, and Manufactures; by McPherson's Commercial Gazetteer : - and

The History, Antiquities, Curiosities, Fairs and Markets, from the County-Histories, Beauties of England, and Luckombe's

Gazetteer.'

A number of curious statistical and other particulars are given in the details of counties, cities, towns, &c.; and in the Introduction, Mr. Potts has exhibited a short sketch of the history of the island, with a list of the Roman names of the districts and chief towns in England and Wales, a catalogue of our monarchs from the period of the Saxon Heptarchy, the modern division of England and Wales, the civil and ecclesiastical jurisdiction, (with the revenues of the archbishops and bishops,) and a description of the climate and face of the country concluding with the following enumeration, under the heads of Population, Agriculture, Manufactures, &c.

The Population is 9,168,000, of which nearly 5,000,000 are females.

Agriculture.-England contains 32,150,000 square statute acres; of these about 10,500,000 are under cultivation for tillage; about 3,000,000 remaining annually as fallow, or in a course of turnips; about 3,500,000 are under barley and oats; 2,000,000 under peas, buck-wheat, vetches, &c.; and the remaining 2,000,000 under wheat: about 14,200,000 acres are under pasturage, and 3,000,000 more are supposed capable of being advantageously brought under cultivation. The system of agriculture pursued on the light lands of Norfolk, and the heavy lands of Suffolk, Kent, and other counties, is deservedly admired and held up to the imitation of the rest of Europe. The breed of domestic animals, whether for the race, the harness, the yoke, or the pail, are superior to any other on the globe; and the fleeces of our sheep vie with the famed Merino, both in fineness and weight.

Manufactures-have been recently estimated at the annual value. of 63,600,000l. and supposed to employ 1,585,000 persons: of these, the woollen manufacture is supposed to yield 15,000,000l.; leather 10,000,000l.; iron, tin, and lead, 10,000,000l.; and cotton 9,000,000l. In this last article, since the introduction of Arkwright's machinery, we excel the best productions of the East; and at the same time, by the reduction of the manual labour, we are enabled to send our goods to market, of superior quality, and at a less price than any other нation in the world. The other chief manufactures, which yield

from