Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/505

 FRIENDLY ISLANDS export from the Friendly islands is cocoanut oil. Port Refuge in Vavao is the best harbor, and is much frequented by British and Ameri- can whalers. The port of Bea on Tongataboo is celebrated as the place where in 1840 Oapt. Oroker, of H. B. M. sloop Favorite, was de- feated by the pagan party. In this engagement, undertaken in behalf of the Christian mission- aries and their native partisans, Croker and many of his officers and men were slain. The Friendly islanders contrast favorably with their neighbors, the Feejeeans, in appearance and disposition. The islands were formerly gov- erned by several independent chiefs. The northern and middle groups afterward con- stituted the state of Vavao, under the sway of a native Protestant prince called King George, who is said to have since become the ruler of all the islands. When pagans, the natives were devoted to war ; the women went nearly naked. They offered human sacrifices, and cut off their little fingers and toes as propitia- tory offerings to their gods. Their mythology, FRIENDS 493 A Cromlech at Tongataboo. like that of the other Polynesians, was a low type of polytheism. The spirits of all chiefs go to Bulotu ; those of the poor people remain in this world to feed upon ants and lizards. They represent the island of Bulotu as not far dis- tant, but do not attempt to settle its precise position. Nearly all the people are now Chris- tian. They were first visited in 1797 by agents of the London missionary society, but in 1827 came under the charge of the Wesleyan society of Great Britain. The group is divided into three missionary stations, viz. : Tongataboo and Hapai, commenced in 1829, and Vavao, in 1830. The smaller islands are intrusted to the supervision of native teachers, and are visited occasionally by the missionaries. A printing press has been in operation at Vavao since 832. Many of the women can sew, and a great number of the natives have learned to read and write, both in their native tongue and in English ; a few have been taught arithmetic and geography. King George is a constant preacher, and is thus described by a mission- ary : In the pulpit he was dressed in a black coat, and his manner was solemn and earnest. He held in his hand a small bound manuscript book, but seldom looked at it." Later, Catho- lic missionaries came to these islands from .trance, and firmly established themselves in the southern group, where a large portion of the natives have joined the Catholic church. Intercourse with the eastern islands of the Fee- jee group is frequent, and many Tongese have emigrated thither. FRIENDS, a sect of Christians commonly called Quakers, which was founded in England about the middle of the 17th century. At first they were known as the " Professors of the Light " or " Children of the Light," from "their fun- damental principle," says William Perm," which is as the corner stone of their fabric, and in- deed, to speak eminently and properly, their characteristic or main distinguishing point or principle, viz., the light of Christ within, as God's gift for man's salvation ; the root of the goodly tree of doctrine that grew and branched out of it." They soon adopted the name of "the Religious Society of Friends," by which they are always known among themselves. The origin of the name Quaker is not entirely certain. By some it is affirmed that it was given " in derision, because they often trembled under an awful sense of the infinite purity and majesty of God." By others it is said that it was first applied to them in 1650, when George Fox was brought before the magistrates of Derby, and he having told them to " quake at the name of the Lord," one of them, Gervase Bennet, an Independent, caught up the word, and, says Fox, "was the first that called us Quakers." However the name originated, it soon became the one by which they were gen- erally known in all parts of the world. The sect was founded by George Fox, a native of Drayton, Leicestershire. He was apprenticed to a shoemaker, but in 1643, at the age of 19, he left his master and wandered about England, leading a solitary life and passing most of his time in meditation and in reading the Scriptures. In the latter part of 1647, under the conviction of a divine call, he began the life of an itinerant preacher, and went from place to place exhort- ing all who would hear to repentance and the commencement of a new life. He denounced the coldness and insufficiency of all existing forms and ceremonies of religion, and asserted that the office of a Christian teacher had be- come a mere trade, denied the necessity of any special education for it, and maintained that the only warrant for assuming it was the consciousness of a divine summons to enter upon its daties. He denounced a paid min- istry, and declared it to be a sin to pay tithes. He denounced war even when waged in self-de- fence, and urged upon all to refuse to do military duty. He asserted the equality and brother- hood of all men, and used the second person singular in addressing all persons of whatever rank. He would not uncover his head in any