"At an early hour of the morning, even before we had taken our breakfast on
board ship, a single person here and there, or a group of three or four,
enveloped in their large mantles of various hues, might be seen wending
their way among the groves fringing the bay on the east, or descending from
the hills and ravines on the north towards the chapel; and by degrees their
numbers increased, till in a short time every path along the beach and over
the uplands presented an almost unbroken procession of both sexes and of
every age, all pressing to the house of God.
"Even to myself it was a sight of surprise; not at the magnitude of the
population, but that the object for which they were evidently assembling
should bring together so great a multitude, when at this very place, only
four years ago, the known wishes and example of chiefs of high authority,
the daily persuasions of the teachers, added to motives of curiosity and
novelty, could scarce induce a hundred of the inhabitants to give an
irregular attendance on the services of the sanctuary. But now,--
'Like mountain torrents pouring to the main,
From every glen a living stream came forth:
Prom every hill in crowds they hasten down
To worship Him who deigns in humblest fane,
On wildest shore, to meet the uprightin heart,'
"The scene, as looked on from our ship, in the stillness of a
brightly-gleaming Sabbath morning, was well calculated, with its
associations, to prepare the mind for strong impressions on a nearer view,
when the conclusion of our own public worship should allow us to go on
shore.
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