| 1020 I commenced preaching, and in a few weeks I baptized six of them, and the seventh requested our prayers. But as he has been an old resident among these islands, he at last boldly confessed that he loved women and rum too well to give them up yet, and he would run the risk a little longer; though he does and always has, treated me with much kindness and generosity. They have got along very well with their vessel; her frame is all done and ready for planking, and they have got above half of them sawn [sawed], and will soon accomplish the other half.
She is built of tamana wood: this is a species of mahogany, and is very durable. She is modelled [modeled] for a staunch fast sailor of about one hundred tons burthen [burden]. Their skill in ship building has by far surpassed my expectations. They are anxious to know what you would advise about her; whether to sell her after we get to Columbia river, (for we expect to go home that way; several of them have native wives that belong to the church, and they all wish to go to Nauvoo, and we think that will be the nearest and best way home.) or keep her in the church to aid the spread of the gospel in the Pacific, and the gathering of the saints from among these islands.
The Lord has greatly blessed my feeble efforts to spread the gospel. I have baptized fifty-seven persons on this island, and they are all here now but one; he went to Tahiti.-Among them are the queen, who is heiress to the crown, a deputy king and his wife and daughter, a girl about fifteen, the head chief and his wife, these are adopted parents to the queen, and several of the subordinate chiefs: so you see the reins of government are within the church, and it has blundered me into a very awkward position, for if your will allow me to speak jestingly, I am prime minister of the island. My counsel is sought for in most law cases, though it is my endeavor to keep clear of them as much as possible. But there is a pack of outlaws of both sexes that make much disturbance, and when I am on an opposite side of the island, they will come there sometimes at midnight and wake me to know what to do.-But as the Mormon influence on this island is already exciting the jealousy of some Mormon eating ship masters from the United States, I think it wisdom to keep clear of their laws as much as possible; at any rate I think I have nothing to do with them, and I often tell them I did not come here to make laws or to see them executed, but to preach the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; and when I had done that I had discharged my duty, and those that come into the church will have to be ruled by the laws of the church, and that is the end of the matter: but I am not allowed to rest here, and so I have to do the best I can. But a little advice from you on all of these subjects, I can assure you, would be very acceptable.
Will it move a feeling of compassion for us when I tell you that neither of us have received a word from any of our friends in America since we left there! Surely, can it be that we are forgotten by you all? We did every thing, I thought, that we could do before we left New Bedford, to have the brethren there forward letters to us, and we have been away nearly a year and a half, and not a word yet, and ship after ship has been here direct from there, and not a word from any body but Mormon eaters, and they have news enough for us; such as Joe Smith is dead, and Daniel Butler has denied the faith and gone back to New Bedford, and the church is all broken up and going to the devil. But all the satisfaction such fellows get from me is, that if one half of the church is shot, and the other half have denied the faith, I know the work is true, and by the help of God I am determined to make all the noise I can about it, and spread this gospel to the ends of the earth, the Lord giving me time and strength to do it.
Though, by the by, I am very happy to say that not all that visit here are of this cast; there are some noble exceptions. While Bro. Grouard was here, we were visited by a ship called the Caroline, Captain Daniel McKenzie, of New Bedford; he was twenty-eight days from the Sandwich Islands; while there he was much at Dr. Winslow's, one of our fellow passengers on board the Timoleon; they had received a letter from me a few days before: in it I had given a sketch of my success here, and also spoke of the English missionaries; their visit here, my bearing testimony to them of the truth of this work, &c., &c.
He had read the letter, and hearing my name (as he said) often mentioned by the doctor and his wife, it had created an anxiety in his mind to visit this place. I found him to be the most agreeable, intelligent, and interesting ship master that I was ever acquainted with. He staid [stayed] several days, and said he should have been glad to have staid [stayed] a month. He is a religious man; we investigated the latter day considerably; he was much pleased with it, said it was the most like the gospel of Christ of any creed he had heard of yet, and he was determined on investigating the matter more fully. I let him have the last Book of Mormon I had to spare, the last Voice of Warning, and the last O. Pratt's pamphlet. I am never applied to for a Book of Mormon, but my indignation is kindled
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