In the year 1863, Rev. Rufus Anderson, D. D., senior Secretary of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, visited the Hawaiian Islands on official business connected with the missionary work of that institution. He was accompanied, in that visit, by his wife and daughter, the latter of whom preserved some memoranda of the journey and the scenes to which it introduced her, for the gratification of her friends. From these notes the present volume has been prepared. The interest which the friends of missions in this country have long cherished for that people—youngest born in the family of Christian nations—will lead them to welcome these unpretending sketches, as affording both instruction and entertainment to themselves and their children. |