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 construct a chapel and schoolhouse. For himself he built a dwelling on an English model, hoping that it would serve as an example to the natives and stimulate them to industry. They were also instructed in boat-building, and paid for their services with nails, hinges, and other useful articles. A printing press established at Huahine was of important service, and the Gospel of St. Luke and a supply of elementary books in their own tongue were distributed among the people. An auxiliary missionary society was formed in emulation of those already existing at Tahiti and Huahine. On 12 May 1819, when a new chapel was opened, a complete code of laws was read and adopted by popular vote. Unlike those previously introduced in other parts of Polynesia, it included trial by jury. In the same year the cultivation of the sugar-cane was introduced and a sugar-mill erected, Williams turning the rollers in a lathe made by his own hand.

In the meantime Williams became dissatisfied with his position. His work seemed to him too easy, and he had an intense desire to reach the heathen populations scattered in other islands. He thought at first of leaving Raiatea and setting out independently of the society, but afterwards resolved to attain his end by means of a mission ship, making Raiatea his headquarters. The directors of the society did not favour the project, but Williams was resolved, and having inherited some property on the death of his mother, he visited Sydney in 1821, and purchased the Endeavour, a schooner of eighty or ninety tons. He also engaged a manager for three years to teach the natives the art of cultivating sugar and tobacco.

Arriving at Raiatea on 6 June 1822, Williams sailed on his first mission voyage in the Endeavour on 4 July 1823. On 9 July they arrived at Aitutaki, and thence proceeded in search of Raratonga, whose inhabitants were said to be the most ferocious in Polynesia. Failing to find the island, they visited Mangaia, Atiu, Mauki, and Matiaro, all in Hervey or Cook Islands. A second attempt to find Raratonga was successful, and leaving Papeiha, a native teacher, who bravely offered to remain alone, Williams returned to Raiatea. On 10 Oct. he departed to visit Rimitaru and Rurutu, two of the Austral Group, which had been christianised by native teachers. On his return he was preparing to attempt to reach the more distant Navigators' Group, when his plans were frustrated by the intelligence that the governor of New South Wales had made fiscal regulations which materially reduced the value of South Sea produce. He had relied on meeting the expenses of his vessel by trading, and was therefore compelled to send her back to Sydney to be sold. He appealed in vain for assistance to the directors of the society, who with some narrowness of spirit refused to countenance his projects, on the ground that they disapproved of missionaries entangling themselves with the affairs of this life.

In April 1827 he accompanied two newly arrived missionaries, Charles Pitman and his wife, to Raratonga, and remained with them for some months until they gained experience. During this period he translated portions of the Bible and other books into the Raratongan language, which he had to reduce to a written form. After completing this work and waiting for some months for a ship to convey him back to Raiatea, he resolved to build a vessel for himself. This, though destitute of iron, he accomplished with marvellous ingenuity, constructing bellows for his fire out of goatskin, and when these were eaten by rats, making them of wood. Having no saw, the trees used were split by wedges, and, having no steering apparatus, bent planks were procured by splitting curved trunks. Cordage was made from the bark of the hibiscus; sails, of native matting; for oakum, cocoanut husk was used; and the pintles of the rudder were formed from a piece of a pickaxe, a cooper's adze, and a large hoe. With such contrivances Williams constructed in fifteen weeks a seaworthy vessel about sixty feet long and eighteen feet wide, which he named ‘The Messenger of Peace.’ Supplied with anchors of wood and stone, he sailed to Aitutaki, a distance of 145 miles, returning with a cargo of pigs, cocoanuts, and cats. Receiving a supply of iron shortly after, Williams strengthened his vessel, and safely accomplished the voyage to Tahiti, a distance of eight hundred miles. He then began to prepare afresh to visit the more distant isles of Polynesia. On 24 May 1830 he started from Raiatea, and visited Savage Island, Tongatabu, and others of the Friendly Islands. He then proceeded to the Samoa Group, where he placed teachers in the island of Savaii. He again visited Samoa at the close of 1832, and, returning to Raratonga, completed his translation of the New Testament.

In June 1834 he visited England, where the fame of his adventures made him a centre of interest. He addressed numerous meetings, and during his stay did much to quicken the growing interest in missions. He submitted to the London Missionary Society plans for a theological college at Raratonga,