Chapter I: Preface

A pilgrim of four-score years, standing near the margin of the Border Land, essays to give a sketch of his life--and why?

Because many personal and Christian friends have long urged it as a duty to my beloved Master to leave my testimony behind me of His faithfulness and grace.

To publish my autobiography was far from my thoughts.

It is a difficult, delicate, and dangerous task. One does not choose to publish his own follies and sins, and surely it is not modest for one to proclaim his own goodness. I will, therefore, only say in the words of the great Apostle, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”

Let me then ask, if in reading this narrative there shall seem to be the weakness of egotism or of vain boasting, that the fault may lie at the door of the writer, or be pardoned on account of the great difficulty of relating one’s own experiences and observations without often repeating the pronoun _I_.

On the other hand, if it shall appear that during a ministry of almost half a century a blind man has been led into the light, a lame man has been helped to walk in the Way of Life, a leprous soul has been washed in the Fountain opened for sin and uncleanness; if a heathen has found the true God, and cast away his dead idols, if a fierce cannibal has been persuaded to cease to eat the flesh of his enemies, and taught to trust the Son of Man for pardon, or if some who were dead in trespasses and sins have been raised to life by the quickening power of the Gospel, then let God have all the glory.

T. C.

CONTENTS.

I.
PAGE
Parentage, Childhood, and Early Years--Militia Service--Asahel
Nettleton--Three Years in Western New York--Sickness--Home
Again--Auburn Seminary 1

II.

Marriage--Embarkation for Hawaii--Santiago, Callao, and
Lima in 1835--Arrival in Honolulu--Passage to Hilo--Our
New Home--First Labors 17

III.

The Field--The People--Hilo District--Crossing the
Torrents--Perils of a Canoe Voyage--Puna District 29

IV.

First Tours in Hilo and Puna--The Work of 1837-38--Spontaneous
Church-Building--The Great Awakening--The Volcanic
Wave--Pastoral Experiences and Methods--The Ingathering 42

V.

Mrs. Coan’s School for Girls--Common Schools--Medical Work--The
Sailors’ Church--Sunday Work--Visits of Foreign
Vessels--The U. S. Exploring Expedition 61

VI.

Mauna Loa--Kilauea--The Eruption of 1840--The River of
Fire--It reaches the Sea at Nanawale--Lava Chimneys--Destruction
of a Village 69

VII.

More Church-Building--Commodore Jones’s Visit--Progress
of Conversions--The Sacraments under new Conditions 82

VIII.

Arrival of Catholic Missionaries--Admiral de
Tromelin--Proselytism--Controversies with the Priests--Arrival
of the Mormons--The Reformed Catholics--Bishop Staley--Lord
George Paulet 93

IX.

Isolation of the Mission Families--Sufferings on the
Inter-Island Voyages--Their Dangers--Parting with our
Children--School Discussions and Festivals--Native
Preachers--Cheerful Givers--Changes and Improvements 110

X.

Hawaiian Kings--The Kamehamehas--Lunalilo--Kalakaua,
the Reigning King--The Foreign Church in Hilo--Organization
of Native Churches under Native Pastors 127

XI.

Compensations--Social Pleasures--Some of our Guests and
Visitors 140

XII.

Seedling Missions--Hawaii sends out Missionaries--Need of a
Missionary Packet--The Three “Morning Stars” 154

XIII.

The Marquesas Islands--Early English and French Missions--The
Hawaiians Send a Mission to Them--My Visit in 1860--The
Marquesan Tabu System 159

XIV.

Second Visit to the Marquesas--The Paumotu Archipelago--Arrival
at Uapou--An Escape by Two Fathoms--Nuuhiva--Hivaoa--Kekela’s
Trials--The Propitiatory Canoe--Savage
Seducers--A Wild Audience 192

XV.

Visit to the United States--Salt Lake--Chicago--Washington
City--Brooklyn--Old Killingworth--Changes in the
Homestead--Passing Away--Return to Hilo--Death of Mrs.
Coan 213

XVI.

Notes on the Stations--Hawaii--Governor Kuakini--Maui--Crater
of Hale-a-ka-la--Molokai--The Leper Settlement--Oahu--Kauai--The
State of the Church 223

XVII.

The Hawaiian Character--Its Amiability--Island
Hospitality--Patience, Docility--Indolence, Lack of Economy,
Fickleness--Want of Independence--Untruthfulness--Decrease of
the Population 252

XVIII.

Kilauea--Changes in the Crater--Attempt to Measure the Heat
of its Lavas--Phenomena in Times of Great Activity--Visitors
in the Domains of Pele 262

XIX.

Eruptions from Mauna Loa--The Eruption of 1843--A Visit to
it--Danger on the Mountain--A Perilous Journey and a Narrow
Escape 270

XX.

Eruptions of Mauna Loa--The Eruption of 1852--The
Fire-Fountain--A Visit to it--Alone on the Mountain--Sights on
Mauna Loa 279

XXI.

The Eruption of 1855--A Climb to the Source--Mountain
Hardships--Visits to Lower Parts of the Lava Stream--Hilo
threatened with Destruction--Liquidity of the Hawaiian
Lavas--Are the Lava-Streams fed from their Sources only? 289

XXII.

The Eruption of 1868 from Kilauea--The March and April
Earthquakes--Land-Slips--Destruction of Life and Property--The
Lava-Stream Bursts from Underground--The Volcanic
Waves of August, 1868, and of May, 1877 313

XXIII.

The Eruption of 1880-1881--Hilo Threatened as Never Before--A
Day of Public Prayer--Visitors to the Lava-Flow--It
Approaches within a Mile of the Shore--Hope Abandoned--After
Nine Months the Action Suddenly Abates--The
Deliverance--The Mechanism of a Great Lava-Flow--An
Idolater Dislodged--Conclusion 327