The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-05-27


so he came to Honolulu, arriving on
August s, 1902, and has tried to build
upon the foundations laid by his pre-
decessors."
The bishop said that his faith had
been unchanged except that it had
grown larger in the ten years, AMI
lie paid a high tribute to the laity of
Hawaii, commenting on the absence of
factions in the church Then he pro-
Ceeded to discuss matters of faith,
concluding with comments on the
growth of the church here as related
in the reports.
In the afternoon the bishop and
clergy in vestments dedicated st.
Mary's Mission House in Moiliili IN
presence of a large congregation.
At 1880 in the evening there was a
United service, at which the Rev. F.
w. Merrill gave short address on
the American Indian, and Bishop Will
lis one on Tonga, his present see.
Bishop Willis did not say much
about his work in the South Seas. TIe
told of the attempt by one who was
net a minister or even a member Of
the Anglican church in 1877 to in
troduce that church in Tonga. The
reference was to a Methodist preach
e" from the Colonies whose doings in
Tonga made lots of news in the late
seventies and early eighties, in which
politics largely figured and an event
was the attempted assassination CT
tie minister and his family-although
the bishop did not go into these de-
tails. when it came to light" BishopI
Willis said, that their leader was not
an ordained clergyman of the church.
they separated from him, but express
ed their resolve to carry on the SER
vices as we'll as they could by them
selves until the Church Of England
could send someone to their help. Att
the end of 1900, at the time when II
was writing my resignation of this
See to his Grace the Archbishop Of
Canterbury the heads of these Tongan
congregations were drafting a petition
begging me to come over to help
them. This seemed to me a call that
was bound to obey. That is what
took me down. With a few exceD-
tons those who asked me to 90 down
there have remained loyal to the
church. My first work was to COM
plete the translation of the Prayer
Book. and then to proceed there with
translations of hymns"
In the beginning of his address
Bishop Willis gave the following inter
esting remarks on Polynesian ethno-
logy:
IF you look at map of the Pacific
You will see that the 1SOth parallel of
longitude marks a line Of demarcation
between two races.
"In the eastern hemisphere the isl-
ands form a continuous chain, from
New Guinea to Borneo, so that there
is nothing very wonderful in a popu-
lation reaching these islands. But in |
the western hemisphere it is different. |
AS you voyage now in an ocean liner
between Honolulu and Suva or Samoa, |
1t is impressive to think of the en-
durance and courage and skill of the |
hardy navigators who centuries ago
found their way by the stars across
these 1000 or 5000 miles of ocean. In
paper of your historical society
some years ago it was shown that at
one period communication was kept
up between these islands and Tahiti, |
the names being preserved OF some of
those adventurous navigators II was
in comparatively recent times thar
the race first reached New Zealand. |
The names OF the canoes in which
the voyage was made being still pre-
served. This Polynesian race is now
called by ethnologlsts Sawaiori- al
word composed Of Sa for Samoa, wall
for Hawaii and orr for Maori.
Turn to that most interesting chap
ter Of the Bible, the Tenth Of Gene
sis, which I fear very few people
read, which gives the pedigree OF the