March 1851


2 March 1851 • Sunday

I have been thinking for this week past to strike out to-morrow on a tramp round the Island my desire to learn the language is the principal reason, I want also to see the situation of things at different parts of the Island; the brethren will remain together studying; it will [be] combining the getting of the language with seeing the Country.1 At Mr. Taylor’s this morning hearing his Farewell sermon. His address was calculated mostly for ministers stirring up to their duty as well as warning those that their friends had thought fit to select for the ministry without them having an inward call themselves to be very careful &c. &c. and to preach the gospel using Paul’s words “Woe unto me if I preach not the gospel.”2 I thought his address was calculated to rub us but it did not sit very close to us. He concluded by telling his congregation that as he was leaving he would tell them “that they were too careless of their spiritual concerns &c. &c.[”] & wound up by telling them to turn. He had.

3 March 1851 • Monday

This morning I concluded to stay to-day & start to-morrow.

4 March 1851 • Tuesday

Started this morning the folks expressed considerable sorrow to part with me on account the[y] said [of] the difficulties I would meet with in going round. Bro. [James] Keeler & Bro. [William] Farrer accompanied me three or four miles on the way. I took Bro. [Henry] Bigler’s valise to carry my shirt & stockings & garment and Books in.3 It was the first time I ever had carried a valise the common appendage of a Mormon Elder travelling. I felt reluctant to part with the brethren but thought it best on account of learning the language.4

I passed thro’ Honokavai [Honokowai] about 11 o’clock It is but a small place and did not appear to have many houses inhabitants. I called at a house for a drink the[y] were very accomadating rummaged round until the[y] found a glass for me to drink out [of]. some time they do not use any cups[,] drink out of a calabash shaped like a bottle. I passed houses all the forenoon very close together I found they all had names almost as many names as houses. I stopped at a place to enquire if I was on the right road they called it Napili there were some three or four houses there; they were very pressing for me to go in the house and rest. I went in and they asked me if I were hungry I told them I was a little they brought me some Kalo boiled and boiled Goat’s flesh to eat, I eat a little and started.5 I towards evening cal arrived at a place called Honokahua I saw some boys beside the road and asked them where there dwelt a man who entertained strangers; they led me to a house some half Whites dwelt as soon as I entered they [the] woman requested me in rather broken English to take a chair, and then asked me if I were hungry, in fact I never passed a house scarcely without them asking me if I were hungry, I told them not that I had eaten at Napili; this family seemed very respectable and they had their house fitted up the best of any house I had seen. There were three persons in the room a young man and his wife as I supposed with a young woman who I believe was the Governors [James Kanehoa’s] daughter having seen her there; they all were part white and the white women were tolerably white and good looking. I asked them if I could stay there for the night and they answered cheerfully that I could; we entered into conversation on various subjects I told them in the course of conversation what I was travelling round the Island for, but did not tell them what I was; they prepared supper for me sweet potatoes and fowl and tea. I did not drink the tea however; after supper they told me that whenever the bed I wanted to go to bed it was ready they had vacated their bed for me; this I had noticed and told them I did not want to take their bed, I said the mat would do very well; the[y] said that would not do I was a stranger and I must take <it> I tried to dissuade but they seemed to think that if I did not take the bed they would be insulted; the lady said some of the folks (the house was full of people to see the Haole) thought I6 was a brother in the Church from my demeanor; they said that White men as a general thing in passing indulged in every kind of mischief &c. &c. I told them I was a minister of the Gospel &c. &c. if possible this increased their respect for me.

There was man in [sic] who was a kind of teacher in the place who attended to prayers and the young woman read a chapter in the Bible; in his prayer he prayed considerably for me. I retired to rest which I enjoyed much and felt to thank the Lord for his kindness to me.

5 March 1851 • Wednesday

Arose this morning much refreshed in mind and body; they soon got breakfast ready I then started, after about a miles travel came to a place called Honolua; it was in a Canōn [Cañon] we would call it at home pretty wide land seemed to be excellent; when I got down to the houses they gathered round a good many to know what I was[.] one man invited me to go to his house <and rest> which I accepted one shouldered my valise another me and packed me and it across a small stream than was running down the centre of the Valley.7 He asked me if I was hungry and offered me something to eat several times. After resting awhile I again started and soon came to another such a place called Honokohau; they got me something to eat for dinner.

I started again about two o’clock and crossed a stream & ascended & descended thro’ a pretty rough country and came to another canõn in which there were two or three houses, I stopped and asked for a drink and <rested a> while. I arrived at a place called Kahakuloa about sundown, it was in a valley like the rest, I enquired of the man crowd that gathered round where a man that entertained strangers lived an old gentleman said he would entertain me and told me to follow his wife. I stayed with him all night and conversed with them and showed as I had done every where previously that I had stopped the gospel as well as I could. this people seemed the most interested of any people I had spoken to I sat up until late conversing with them in a broken manner after I lay down I heard them conversing one to another in a way favorable to me.

6 March 1851 • Thursday

Arose this morning the man of the House Mika by name carried me across the river and went with me and carried my valise for me up several very high hills, it commenced raining and made it very bad walking up and down hill I got completely wet thro’ I arrived at Waihee [Waihe’e] about ½ past ten and concluded to stay the day with them, in a house where several men were in they interrogated me as to my belief I told them as well as I could they then brought the Savior’s words against me telling me that they must beware of wolves &c. &c. I read to them the next verse “by your fruits you would know them &c. &c.”8 I said as well as I could to them that if I preached contrary to the word of God then I could be condemned. I find that I will require considerable improvement before I am able to explain our doctrine to you them. They were very kind to me nevertheless and treated me well.

7 March 1851 • Friday

This morning wet and stormy I concluded it best to stay here for the day as they were very kind in their offers to me. From what I could learn it would be exceedingly bad travelling around the Island at this time on account of rain & bad weather &c. &c. In the afternoon it had cleared off and was dry though still cloudy; I thought it would be as well to travel on. There were two young men went one carryed by [my] valise and the other packed me over the river. They took me to [a] house to stop and told them that I was a missionary and was a “hoahanau9 the man thought he <had> not suitable accommodations but was willing to let me have such has he had. I did not like this thing of passing as a Brother not exactly knowing what meaning they put to the word, whether they applied it to their own particular sect to the exclusion of all others or not; this and his reluctance made me decide not to stay there but go on to Waiehu a few miles further. I started and crossed a small stream and passed some houses to the right toward the mountain, but passed on it began to grow dark and looked very like rain. I walked on as fast as possible and came to one or two houses and a little beyond a river running rapidly from the mountains to the sea. It now commenced raining, I stopped at the house a respectable looking house and knocked at the door, nobody answered I opened the door, it was dark and nobody in, I went to the next house; there were two old women in & two children, the house was not very inviting inside, I asked them where the people were that lived in the other house were [sic] they said the man was not at home; but his wife and girl lived there; they said his wife would be back in a few minutes. I waited and she returned and said I could stay in the house that night; she got a neighbor to come and stay with her. I had a comfortable bed made for me and slept soundly. I found that this was Wailuku, and I had passed Waiehu it was to my right as I came.10

8 March 1851 • Saturday

I got up this morning and started before breakfast in crossing the river [‘Iao Stream] I slipped and fell and got wet. After crossing and ascending the hill a young man came to meet me who spoke English a little, he asked where I was going and if I had eaten. I told him not. he wanted me to come into my his house I accepted and went in with him; they got breakfast ready the best I had eaten since leaving Lahaina; after breakfast I passed up thro’ town and hoped that it might be thrown round so I could see the [Congregationalist] Missionaries[.] I past by the house, but felt a little delicacy about going in an[d] introducing myself in the plight I was in. I went behind the town and changed my shirt and shaved myself, and felt impressed to return into town. I turned down into town and when passing a house, there were some men standing at the gate I saluted them and passed on. I got a few hundred yards they called me back asked me to go in asked me where I was going. I told them I thought of returning to Lahaina on account of the weather <one> [of] them said I better stop until Monday with him. I told him I would; when we got in the house they asked me about my belief I told him some as well as I could and related<ferred> to him to passages in the Scripture he opposed <&> said it would not do these days; we conversed for a while so I told him that I did not want him to believe or any other man if it was not in accordance with the Bible. He invited me to return to Lahaina and come back and stay with him. He asked me if I would like to see Mr. [Rev. Daniel T.] Conde the Missionary I told him I would like to very much; we went up he introduced me. Mr. C. & his Lady [Andelucia Conde] and a Dr. Dugald’s Lady who was there on a visit we conversed on Deseret &c and my <our> object in coming to the Islands &c. He could not believe anything about revelation these days &c. I lent him a Voice of Warning to read; he condemned the principles before he had read or heard.

Mr. [Jonathan] Napela (my host[)] in conversing with him afterwards said if their principles were wrong and ours were right he would embrace them; this made me feel good and I prayed to the Lord that prejudice that might be instilled into his mind might not turnee him from the truth. He was an influential man Judge of this side of the Island11 and his associates [H. K. Kaleohano and William H. Uaua] are the most intelligent men I have seen on the Islands they <have> all been at the [Lahainaluna] High School12 four years.13

9 March 1851 • Sunday

Attended meeting this morning Mr. C. preached. After dinner attended meeting again a man of the name of Kaauwai preached part of his discourse I could understand and part not[.] he guarded the people against deceivers and this great sin that was come among them I thought that he was referring to me. After meeting Mr. Napela with his companions were out some as I supposed invited up to the parsonage. They were back by supper while at supper Mr. N. asked me if there was not a man before me of the name of [Joseph] Smith that had got another Bible out of the ground; and had been killed since. I found that the priest had been at their old tricks of circulating lies to the prejudice of the truth. I told them that the Lord had revealed to [Smith] the Record of the American Indians telling of their origen &c. That we did not preach that instead of the Bible; but if it would not stand the test of the scriptures, I did not want it. I told him <that> I told Mr. Conde that we did not take the Book of M. with for the Bible, but proved one by the other. And that I had lent him a book (the Voice of W.) and that he had condemned before hearing or reading; that was not according to Paul’s advice “prove all things and hold fast that which is good.”14 I wanted him <(N.)> not to judge before he heard, that I would be able probably shortly to explain it to him [but] at present I could not. He said he wanted to know & he would not judge until after hearing. I felt like praying to the Lord that the prejudice he <(Mr. C.)> had been endeavoring to excite against us and the truth might roll upon his own <head> and prove to his own injury.15

10 March 1851 • Monday

This morning I went up to Mr. C. for the Voice of Warning, they pressed me to stay and take breakfast with them. They seemed a little more favorable; they wanted to know what difference there could be when we professed to believe the Bible I told them they professsed [sic] to believe the Bible and did not and we took it as it was. Our conversation lasted several hours; the Bible, the Bible, was all in all to them shut; but open it and it could not mean as it was written; I could not get him to show me my errors from the scriptures if I had any; but it was all I think, I think, I think, no proof. I brought the scriptures to support me; but they meant something else. I found it was as easy as ever to confound error by truth. He said he would rather belief Mahomet [Muhammad] than Joseph Smith.

I started for Lahaina Mr. Napela did not repeat his invitation to return and stay with him; having as I supposed been warned by the Minister against False prophets &c &c. It was rocky most of the way and blistered my feet. I arrived in Lahaina about two hours after dark pretty well used up having travelled about 25 miles.16 The brethren and folks were all well.

11 March 1851 • Tuesday

Very sore from the effects of travelling.

12 March 1851 • Wednesday

do. do. do.

13 March 1851 • Thursday

This morning a man called in I commenced and told him about the Lord having established his church as formerly upon the Earth and showed him the scriptures proving the order of the Ancient Church &c. &c. He seemed pleased with it and left promising to call again.

14 March 1851 • Friday

Variously Engaged.

15 March 1851 • Saturday

do. do.

16 March 1851 • Sunday

Attended the Native chapel Mr. B. [Rev. Dwight Baldwin] preached.

17 March 1851 • Monday

I was engaged studying &c. to-day.

18 March 1851 • Tuesday

This morning I thought I would return to Wailuku. I started about 10 o’clock and about three P.M. arrived at a place called Ukamehame where a man of the name of David Malo lived; I had heard from the people a good deal about this man and I was anxious to see him. He was said to be the best informed man in the Nation in their ancient History &c. &c. And was highly extolled by the Natives for his goodness and wisdom I found him out getting some land surveyed; the surveyor was a young man from Lahainaluna a native who spoke English a little. Malo invited me to stay all night with him I accepted his invitation I told him I had called to have some talk with him concerning the Bible and the history of the Islands. I told him that the Lord had restored the ancient order of things and that he had revealed the record and origen of the American Indians &c. &c. I could not express my ideas very well my language was considerably broken. When he learned how long I had been here he was considerably <surprised> at my progress in the language he said I would soon get it he said he wanted to talk with me when I was got so I could and he would like to see that Book. (referring to the B. of M.) I told him that I thought they [Hawaiians] were descendants of Israel because they resembled them very much.17 He said that his thought was the same because they had observed the same things observed by the Israelites: one was circumcision [which] was a few years ago practised among them; they had places of refuge for the man to flee to that killed his fellow unintentionally. Also at certain certain seasons they kept apart from their women when they had their courses. These things made him think that they were of this race.18

I was not able to convey to him as clearly as I wished the difference between us and the rest of the religious world.

I had <a> good bed prepared for me I slept soundly.

19 March 1851 • Wednesday

This morning before starting David presented me with 37½ cents to buy water If I should need it. I did not want to take it he pressed me and I accepted it. He had understood from me the evening before, the way we travelled.19 I felt to bless the old gentleman for his kindness to me. I arrived in Wailuku about four o’clock I stopped at the house of Mr. Napela; he and his wife [Kitty Napela] appeared very glad to see me; she got ready something for <me> to eat. N. was unwell and was lying on a mat with a boy <busily engaged> (lomi) or pinching [massaging] his legs; it being a practice among the Hawaiians when tired to do so; they say it is a complete preventitive of weariness of the limbs through fatigue.

This evening there was a Deacon came in named Naliipuleho we got to talking on various subjects among the rest Baptism I told them there was only “one Faith one Lord and one Baptism”20 and from the scriptures I could only learn of Immersion being practised. He thought that they sprinkled anciently according to the Scriptures I asked him to cite me to the passage this he could not do. I showed them the various passages in support of immersion and wound <up> by referring them to the Saviors saying to Nicodemus “except a man be born of water and the spirit he cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven”;21 this appeared to be conclusive evidence with them that immersion was the proper mode of baptism. I then asked him if they laid <on> hands in their Church? he said they did <up>on officers. I asked if they did upon members? he said No. I then showed him from the scriptures that it was practised in the ancient Church and was one of the ordinances. We then conversed upon other subjects; he asked me about our circumstances. I told him that we were out of money but that Nalimanui had let us have her house to live in. He put his hand in his pocket & pulled out a dollar and offered it to me; but I refused to take it I told him I was not hungry and did not want it at present he pressed me to take it; but I refused and told him If I should wanted any I would come to him for it; he laughed and said I could not get it then; he was considerable of a humorist and fond of a joke.

20 March 1851 • Thursday

They started this morning N & N [Naliipuleho and Napela] to Ralepolepo [Kalepolepo] to attend to some law business. In the evening they returned their first questions were in regard to Joseph [Smith] and his companion meaning [Oliver] Cowdery they having asked me some of the particulars of the Church being founded. I thought from this that what I had said had had some effect upon them; and thought they must have been talking about it. This <evening> talked upon various subjects of Mormonism and the[y appeared] considerably interested in it. Napela told me several [times] that he had a great desire to read that Book meaning the Book of Mormon; I explained to them how it was translated by the power of God through the Urim and Thummim22 they seemed much pleased and especially when I told them I believed they were of the same lineage. They received it all very well and as far as appearances went believed it.

21 March 1851 • Friday23

Their thoughts seemed to run on what I had told [them] and they talked about it and asked questions this was what I wanted[,] to see them sufficiently interested in it to converse about it; and my heart swelled with gratitude to my Heavenly Father for having blessed me and answered my prayers to the extent he had; when I came I was afraid I would find them more or less prejudiced; but had been agreeably disappointed. I was invited by Napela to come and stay with [him] I having told [him] I wanted to find somebody that would learn me Hawaiian and I would him English; he told [me] he wanted [to learn] & [for me] to stay with him. This Evening conversing upon Faith and its power; he related to me several anecdotes concerning his Father and about their people I had already found that they [were] very attentive to prayer and believed in its efficacy. I told <him> that they had a great deal more faith than the Haoles had. He said he had thought so; he had looked at the Kanaka & the Haole or foreigner and he thought that the Kanaka’s faith exceeded the others. I asked him about their priests; their priesthood was continued from Father to son and if no son the son of his friend, no man ever took the priesthood unless he had remarkable manifestations; he says that there were other men who had the power of praying men to death; but these things were done now. Their priests had power to get their prayers answered get rain &c. when they wanted it. I told him that I thought it was the remains of the ancient priesthood perverted that they had not been so from the beginning; he said he could not believe so either.

22 March 1851 • Saturday

Engaged as Yesterday Studying & talking.

23 March 1851 • Sunday

Attended meeting this morning Mr. Conde preached I understood the principal part of his discourse; it was an exhortation to leave sin an[d] evil practices and cleave to virtue. After meeting Napela commenced telling his brother-in-law a half breed and one of the Circuit Judges of the Island and two or three other men of our principles and belief. He told me to tell his brother-in-law whose name is John Richardson the particulars in English as he could talk [but] a little and about the killing of Joseph and Hyrum [Smith] and he would act as interpreter; this occupied about an hour and a half; they were very much interested in the detail and it seemed to please them. In afternoon, attended meeting a Native preached to them on the difference in Godly sorrow and worldly sorrow. After meeting[,] Napela with Naliipuleho they commenced talking upon these things and asked me about the Babylon the Great the Mother of Harlots who I thought she was?24 I asked them to say[.] No. they said you tell. Well said [I] we’ll say it is the Church of Rome. Yes they said the Church of Rome. It says that she is the Mother of Harlots; who was her first daughter? Was it not the Lutheran Church. The 2nd? Was it not The C. of England. And 3rd Calvin &c. &c. until you come to this time and they are divided into hundreds. How is [a] person to know without revelation? and for this thing they killed Joseph Smith because he said that he had revelation &c. &c. they said it was plain and the old deacon [Naliipuleho] said they were like the Jews who killed the prophets. There were two men came in; the old <Gentleman> told them I was a missionary one of them knew having heard Mr. Richardson interpreting. He commenced telling them about the principles of our belief one of them disputed him about baptism [by] immersion being the only right mode Naliipuleho talked to him until he either convinced or silenced him unconvinced and then told him about laying on hands &c. they talked a good while. Napela told me while they were there that Mr. Baldwin had said that if we would work a miracle he would believe us and join us. I told them what the Savior told the Pharisees in regard to sign seeking;25 and that hereafter the Devil’s servants would show mighty signs and wonders;26 if he (Mr. B.) would believe signs he would or might be deceived; that he ought to believe their old priests they could do many powerful things. I said the Bible was the Standard if we did not preach according to that to condemn us; if we did it was truth and ought to be received. They all acquiesced to what I said; Napela said he told the man <that told him> that they had the Bible and that was the Judge. My heart felt so big that I could not stay in the house I went out and gave vent to my overcharged feelings to my Heavenly Father for his goodness to me and giving me favor in the sight of the people that they would believe my testimony to the extent they had. I felt my weakness and the responsibility of an Elder standing as a teacher to the people I realised the importance of such a place and how near I ought to draw near to the Lord for sufficient wisdom and of his spirit to direct me that my course of conduct and teaching might be such as to draw all the honest in heart and not do anything that would weaken their faith in my message.

24 March 1851 • Monday

I thought of returning to Lahaina this morning; it rained a little this morning; after ceasing I started calculating to go to Lahaina and arrived there at about 5 o’clock, considerably tired the brethren were all well.27

25 March 1851 • Tuesday

Weary from the effects of yesterday’s travel.

26 March 1851 • Wednesday

Writing up journal &c. &c.

27 March 1851 • Thursday

Engaged studying.

28 March 1851 • Friday

This morning started for Wailuku bidding Bros. Bigler & Farrer good bye for some time as they except expect to start for Molokai [Moloka‘i] next week but one and it is very doubtful about me seeing them again before they go. I felt sorry to and reluctant to leave them but there was no other alternative. Bro. Farrer accompanied me on the way several miles. I stopped at D. Malo’s house and rested for about half an hour; while there a White man called in to get something to eat; he enquired of me my business &c. when he learned who I was and what I had came here for he wished me success; he had heard he said Bro. [Hiram] Clark on the boat coming from Honolulu to Lahaina conversing upon our principles and what he had heard about them he liked very well. He lived he said at Hana and was on his way to Lahaina. On parting he said he hoped we would meet again for he wanted to hear more about it.

I arrived at Wailuku about 6 o’clock.

29 March 1851 • Saturday

Studying &c.

30 March 1851 • Sunday

This morning attended meeting Mr. Conde preached Rom 1 c. 18 v. For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of man; who hold the truth in unrighteousness. He had been showing them what was unrighteousness and ungodliness &c. for about half his discourse. He then commenced upon Mormonism and said this was another thing that was included under this. He said there were five of these men [who] had come to these Islands and he warned the people to beware of them. He then told them about Joe. Smith pretending to have seen an angel or angels to have had some plates delivered to him &c. & that he had translated them, he said, into a Book giving account of the Indians, and that he had they [the] angel he said had taken the plates away again; he thought this was an evidence of the untruth of his story; for he thought they ought to have been left for the world to see. He said Smith was a notoriously bad character and they had built a city called Nauvoo [Illinois] and built a large Temple there and that they stole so much and broke the laws to such an extent that the citizens would not stand it and that Smith and them fought frequently and finally Smith was killed fighting[,] the Lord having punished him for his sins; that Smith while he was living had had a great many wives or concubines and was a very wicked man. He said if Smith had seen angels why did they not deliver him from death? He said they were living at this time at the Rocky Mountains close to a Lake called the Great Salt Lake. He said there were three of these men living at Lahaina and that one of them came very frequently to Wailuku and stopped at the house of Napela says he, perhaps he is his friend. He warned them not to listen to these men they were like Mohamet &c. I understood the principal part of what he said these are a few of the heads [prominent points]; my feelings while sitting listening to this tirade can be better imagined than described I felt as though if I had owned the world I should have given it to have been able to have talked the Native. I thought of standing up after meeting and contradicting but I thought he had the pulpit & could out-talk me; and it afterwards proved to be best that I did not as it was contrary to the law.

After meeting I [went] to him and asked the privilege of speaking a few words; he assented I then told him that I wanted to inform him better in regard to the things he had told this people and have him disabuse the minds of this people of the lies he had told them. He said he did not believe they were lies he had heard them and he should not tell them different; he said if the people had been warned against Mohamet he would not have got so many disciples, and he considered it his duty. I told him I had come to tell what was the truth and the things he had told this people were base lies and I was a living witness that they were and that Mormonism <as it is called> was true; and as true as the Lord lived I would stand as a Witness against him at the Judgment seat of God for having told this people lies and that he would not tell them the truth, when he knew it. I told them he could not prove that Mormonism was false from the scriptures, and I dared him to the [sic] prove if it was a[s] false a system as he he said it was I should think it would be easy to prove it so from the scriptures I said I could prove before this whole people that he did not agree with the scriptures and that he did not preach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Our conversation lasted about 1/2 an hour I talked very fast for I was considerably excited and could scarcely command my feelings, they had <been> so much hurt listening to his slanders. There was about 1/3 of the congregation gathered round to listen among these were two that I knew could talk a little English. When I got back to Mr. N’s house I could not refrain from weeping I wept like a whipped child. One of the men who was standing bye [John Richardson] was a brother-in-Law of Napela’s a half breed and could understand English when he came in he told to the people in the house what he had understood of the conversation which was very favorable to me; they seemed to sympathise with me I told them that they were lies that had been told to them and that I knew them to be such. I had made up my mind to leave Napela’s house if he manifested the slightest desire to have me go. But on conversing with him upon the subject he said no I must stop; he said he was not afraid.28

31 March 1851 • Monday

This morning Mr. Napela started for Lahaina I sent a letter with him to the brethren telling of this attempted exposé by Mr. C.29

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March 1851, The Journal of George Q. Cannon, accessed October 4, 2024 https://chpress-web.churchhistorianspress.org/george-q-cannon/1850s/1851/03-1851

Footnotes

  1. [1]Cannon later recounted that he had felt prompted to start around the island before the arrival of Clark, but that the feeling had grown as a result of his visit. “My anxiety increased, and I told the brethren that I must push out among the natives, and commence preaching to them as well as I could. I had made very good progress in the language, and felt able to explain in part the first principles of the gospel” (Cannon, My First Mission, 23).

  2. [2]1 Corinthians 9:16: “For though I preach the gospel, I have nothing to glory of: for necessity is laid upon me; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not the gospel!”

  3. [3]A valise is a travel bag usually made of leather and of a size suitable for easy carrying by hand.

  4. [4]Cannon later wrote concerning his journey: “The Lord had revealed to me that I would find a people prepared to receive the truth; and I started as a man would who was going to meet his friends. Though I had never seen them in the flesh, I knew that when I met them they would not be strangers unto me. . . . I started, feeling as proud of the privilege of swinging it [Brother Bigler’s valise] across my shoulder as any knight ever was at wearing, for the first time, his gold spurs” (Cannon, My First Mission, 23).

  5. [5]Kalo, also called taro, is a plant known throughout Polynesia. Most kalo grows in patches that are perpetually flooded. After the root—the portion of the plant that is eaten—has been harvested, the leafy portion of the plant is placed back in the mud to produce another crop (Krauss, Plants in Hawaiian Culture, 5–8, 178–79). Cannon afterward left an extensive description of this principal food of the Hawaiians:

    “Near every house there is a circular hole. When ‘kalo’ is to be cooked, a fire is built in this, and a quantity of small volcanic rocks are piled on top of it. As the fire burns out these sink to the bottom, and they are spread over the bottom and around the sides of the pit. The ‘kalo’ roots are then laid in, mats are spread over them, then soil, until they are completely covered, excepting a small hole at the top, into which water is poured. That hole is then stopped. . . . When the water is poured in, the rocks, being hot, speedily convert it into steam, and as it cannot escape, it cooks the roots. . . . The native men on the Islands do all the cooking. When the ‘kalo’ has been in long enough to cook, it is uncovered; the skin is washed off, and it is pounded with a stone pestle, on a large flat slab of wood, until it is like a mass of dough. Then it is put into a calabash, or gourd, and by the next day fermentation has commenced. . . . Water is then added to it, and it is mixed until it is a little thinner than we usually make mush. There is a little sour taste about it the first day. But it is never eaten at that time by the natives, unless they have no other food. They like it best when it is quite sour. This is what they call ‘poi,’ and there is no other food that they think can equal it. . . .

    “Before leaving Lahaina, I had tasted a teaspoonful of ‘poi;’ but the smell of it and the calabash in which it was contained was so much like that of a book-binder’s old, sour paste-pot that when I put it to my mouth I gagged at it, and would have vomited had I swallowed it. But in traveling among the people I soon learned that if I did not eat ‘poi’ I would put them to great inconvenience; for they would have to cook separate food for me every meal. This would make me burdensome to them, and might interfere with my success. I, therefore, determined to learn to live on their food, and, that I might do so, I asked the Lord to make it sweet to me. My prayer was heard and answered; the next time I tasted it, I ate a bowlful, and I positively liked it” (Cannon, My First Mission, 24–26).

    Hawaiians are unique among Polynesians in preferring poi to the unpounded kalo root, a staple in other parts of Oceania.

  6. [6]Written over it.

  7. [7]Cannon subsequently recorded additional information regarding his travels: “It was during a very wet season that I told the people I was going around the island. They thought it a great undertaking, and tried to persuade me not to go. I evidently had their sympathies; I was boyish-looking, and they called me a keiki, which in their language literally means ‘a child.’ Many times as I traveled along they would take my valise from me and carry it; and when I came to a stream of water, they would pack me across it” (Cannon, My First Mission, 26).

  8. [8]Matthew 7:15–16: “Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. Ye shall know them by their fruits.”

  9. [9]Hoahanau means a brother or sister in the sense of a fellow church member.

  10. [10]Waiehu and Wailuku are located on the northwestern edge of the central Maui plains situated between the West Maui Mountains and the dormant Haleakala volcano, which dominates the eastern portion of the island. Along with the neighboring communities of Waihe‘e and Waikapu, Waiehu and Wailuku were part of a region known as Na Wai ‘Eha, or “the four waters.” For additional information, see Bartholomew and Bailey, Maui Remembers, 5, 127; Pukui, Elbert, and Mookini, Place Names of Hawaii, 221, 225.

  11. [11]During the 1820s the Sandwich Islands government began implementing a western judicial system, a process that took several decades to complete. By 1850 the nation was divided into four judicial districts, each containing a circuit court. The superior court judges based in Honolulu and two local circuit judges presided over the circuit courts that met during a specified term each year. “The kingdom was further subdivided into twenty-four districts,” each with one or more district justices, of which Napela was one (Kuykendall, Hawaiian Kingdom, 1:263–64; Silverman, “Imposition of a Western Judicial System”).

  12. [12]Located on a hillside above Lahaina, Lahainaluna High School was established by missionaries with the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions in 1831 as the Lahainaluna Seminary. Initially a teacher training center, Lahainaluna became a boarding school in 1836 and in time was opened to all male students. It was an important center for formal education in the islands, and a number of prominent individuals, including government officials, civic leaders, teachers, and lay clergy, were educated there. For more information on Lahainaluna, see Lahainaluna and Hale Pa‘i, 2–6; Sandwich Island Notes, 303–6; Bartholomew and Bailey, Maui Remembers, 22.

  13. [13]Cannon later recounted in greater detail meeting Napela, Uaua, and Kaleohano:

    “Up to this time, though I had been treated very kindly, I had not met with the persons whom I had been led to expect by the manifestations of the spirit, would receive my testimony. The main part of the town of Wailuku was on the other side of a stream, in attempting to cross which I got wet. There were some [Congregationalist] missionary houses here, and as I passed through the town, I hoped that I should get an opportunity of being introduced to them. . . . But I was dusty and toilworn, and felt some diffidence about introducing myself. By this time I had partly come to the conclusion that, as the weather was so unfavorable I would return to Lahaina; and in passing through Wailuku I took a road which I thought led in that direction. I had scarcely got out of the town when I felt impressed to return, the Spirit telling me that if I would do so I should get an opportunity of being introduced to the missionary who resided there.

    “As I passed the churchyard two half-white women emerged from a house near by, and when they saw me they called to some men who were in the house, ‘E ka haole!’ which means, ‘Oh, the white man!’ This they repeated two or three times, calling at the same time one of the men by name. As I walked along towards the picket fence, three men came out of the house, and stepped up towards the gate. When I got opposite to them I saluted them, being greeted by them in return. I had passed but a few feet when the leader of the men inquired of me where I was going. . . . He [then] inquired of me who and what I was, and upon my informing him, his desire to have me stay was increased. . . .

    “The moment I entered into the house of this native and saw him and his two friends, I felt convinced that I had met the men for whom I had been looking. . . .

    “. . . The half white women who saw me were Napela’s wife and her sister. There was something very remarkable in their crying out as they did to him and his companions in the house when they saw me. They met whites very frequently, and it was nothing strange for them to pass as I did. This was often alluded to in conversations which we had afterwards, and they wondered why they should have done so. I know that it was the Lord’s doings; for if they had not called out, I should have passed unnoticed and missed them” (Cannon, My First Mission, 26–29).

    During a December 1900 trip to Maui, Cannon desired to visit the place where Napela lived. According to Samuel Woolley, “When we got near the Old Church [Ka‘ahumanu Church], Bro. Cannon said well we are nearing sacred ground he had the carriage stop and we got out and he pointed out where he met Napela, Uaua, and Kaleohano” (Woolley diary, Dec. 28, 1900). Napela’s house was reportedly located on the current site of the Kalana Pakui Building/Old Police Station (Cockett, “Notes regarding Church history on Maui”).

  14. [14]1 Thessalonians 5:21.

  15. [15]Reflecting upon these events years later, Cannon wrote:

    “Napela was very anxious to know my belief, and wherein our doctrines differed from those taught by the missionaries in their midst. I explained to him, as well as I could, our principles, with which he seemed very well satisfied. But next day after the service in their church, Mr. Conde called Napela and a number of the leading men together, and endeavored to poison their minds against our doctrines, by telling all kinds of lies about the Prophet Joseph and the people of Utah. . . .

    “The Spirit rested powerfully upon me and I told them I had the truth, and besought them, as they valued their souls, not to reject it until they could understand it for themselves. . . . They were melted to tears, and promised me that they would not decide that our principles were false until they had a full opportunity of judging for themselves. Which promise, I am happy to say, most of them kept” (Cannon, My First Mission, 28).

  16. [16]Cannon apparently returned to Lahaina by the main route connecting Lahaina with central and eastern Maui, which road traversed the southern portion of the West Maui mountains. In April 1851 the Polynesian reported that “great improvement” had recently been made to the road: “A journey over that road has, hitherto, been attended with excessive fatigue, and no little danger, and we are happy to learn that the proper authorities have taken it in hand, in earnest, and are rendering it passable” (“Roads in Maui,” Honolulu Polynesian, Apr. 12, 1851). The eastern portion of the route from Wailuku through the central Maui plains, a distance of seven miles, consisted of a “very good road along near the foot of the mountain,” and the mountain portion of the road, six miles long, was “very steep generally both in asscent & descent” (Farrer diary, Aug. 27, 1852). The mountain portion was “very rough and stony” and featured “a very deep ravine where water sometimes stands for a good while after the rains” (Hammond journal, May 19, 1853). The western segment between the mountain and Lahaina, a distance of twelve miles, was characterized as “a dry, dusty . . . road, leading chiefly along the sea-shore” (Sandwich Island Notes, 308).

  17. [17]Cannon later told a group of Hawaiians that “they were of the seed of Abraham, he knew it because the Lord told him so at Lahaina” (Woolley diary, Dec. 28, 1900). Other Latter-day Saints had come to this belief prior to Cannon. When Francis Hammond first met Parley P. Pratt in 1849, Pratt “began talking about the people on those far-off isles [Hawaiian Islands], belonging to the house of Israel” (Hammond, “My Introduction to Mormonism,” 519). Much of the Latter-day Saint belief regarding the origin of the Hawaiians and other Polynesians is based upon a Book of Mormon account of a shipbuilder named Hagoth and the many ships he launched about 55 b.c. (Alma 63:5–8). For further reading on Latter-day Saint views regarding the origins of the Polynesians, see Parsons, “Hagoth and the Polynesians”; Clement, “Polynesian Origins”; Loveland, “Hagoth and the Polynesian Tradition.”

  18. [18]Scriptural references to these practices among the ancient Israelites include Genesis 17:12, Numbers 35:6–29, and Leviticus 15:19–28. These customs among the Hawaiians are discussed in greater detail in Malo, Hawaiian Antiquities, 27, 52, 127–29. Concerning the similarities between the Hawaiians and the ancient Israelites, the Pastor T. Dwight Hunt, who served in the islands between 1844 and 1848, told a congregation in San Francisco in 1852:

    “Some have seen in [their] traditions and customs evidence to trace the Islanders to a Jewish origin. The resemblance is remarkable.

    Circumcision performed by a priest was a common practice. Their first fruits they offered to the gods. The touch of a corpse made a person unclean till purified by religious ceremonies. Females were subject to the same laws of separation and purification as among the Jews, under penalty of death.

    “There were also cities of refuge for manslayers, regulated by laws similar to those of the Jews.

    “They had a tradition that the first man was made from the dust of the earth.

    “The name of Noah frequently occurs in their traditions in connection with a floating ark. . . .

    “Traditions were also common among them of one that answers the description and history of Joseph—another of one who, like Jonah, was cast out by a fish upon the shore—another still of one who, like Joshua, made the sun stand still in the heavens.

    “The structure of the two languages is also similar—the causative form of the Hawaiian verb being precisely the same as the Hiphil of the Hebrew.

    “Remarkable as are these agreements, the disagreements are also so numerous (scarcely two words in the two languages resembling each other) that the connection of the two races, if real, lies so far back in the antiquities of Asia as never to be traced” (Hunt, Past and Present of the Sandwich Islands, 8–10).

  19. [19]Throughout the nineteenth century and into the first part of the twentieth century, Latter-day Saint missionaries regularly traveled “without purse or scrip,” relying upon those they met for their room and board. This injunction, first given by Jesus Christ to his apostles (Luke 10:4) and repeated in Doctrine and Covenants 84:77–92, allowed missionaries to serve who might not otherwise because of limited finances. It permitted them to cover a wider area and to visit areas where public lodging was not available. Studies of this practice include Price, “Mormon Missionary of the Nineteenth Century,” 167–86, 221–29; Embry, “Without Purse or Scrip”; Jensen, “Without Purse or Scrip?”; Aird, “Without Purse or Scrip in Scotland.”

  20. [20]See Ephesians 4:5.

  21. [21]John 3:5.

  22. [22]The Urim and Thummim was an instrument prepared by God through which a seer could receive revelation. In the Old Testament, Moses and Aaron possessed a Urim and Thummim (Exodus 28:30; Leviticus 8:8). Joseph Smith described the Urim and Thummim he used as “two transparent stones set in the rim of a bow fastened to a breastplate” (“Church History,” Times and Seasons 3 [Mar. 1, 1842]: 707). For a discussion of Joseph Smith’s use of the Urim and Thummim in translating the Book of Mormon, see Ricks, “Joseph Smith’s Means and Methods of Translating the Book of Mormon”; Givens, By the Hand of Mormon, 22–24, 30–37.

  23. [23]Cannon originally wrote the date as March 22 but changed it in pen.

  24. [24]See Revelation 17:5.

  25. [25]Matthew 16:4: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas.”

  26. [26]Scriptural references include Matthew 24:24, Mark 13:22, and 2 Thessalonians 2:8–12.

  27. [27]Cannon reported to his fellow missionaries that “he had taught the first principles of the Gospel as well as he could with what knowledge he had of their language to a number of the leading men of that place who appeared to receive them gladly; they do not appear surprised at the Lord speaking again from the Heavens or of Angels ministering to men; but consider it perfectly consistent with his character as explained in the Scripture[s]” (Farrer diary, Mar. 24, 1851).

  28. [28]Cannon later wrote concerning this event:

    “When the Presbyterian missionary at Wailuku saw that I had come back there he was displeased. He used all his influence against me among his congregation, and one Sunday he came out in public and delivered a most abusive discourse against the prophet Joseph and our principles, in which he gave an entirely false statement of the cause of his death, and also warned the people against me. I happened to be present when this sermon was delivered. While listening to it a variety of emotions agitated me. My first impulse was to jump upon one of the seats as soon as he had got through, and tell the people he had told them a pack of falsehoods. But this I thought would produce confusion, and result in no good. When the services were over I walked around to the pulpit where he stood. He knew how short a time we had been on the islands, and, I believed, had no idea that I could understand what he had said, when he saw me, therefore, his face turned pale, and to me he looked like a man who had been caught in a mean, low act. . . .

    “. . . Altogether I think the missionary’s sermon did good. He intended it for evil; but the Lord overruled it. . . . The Lord gave me favor in the sight of the natives, and I had their sympathy, though they dare not avow it, for fear of the consequences. Another reason of the sermon not having so good an effect was the preacher’s allusions to Napela. He had called him by name, as the man at whose house I stopped, and denounced him. This, of course, was distasteful to Napela’s relatives and friends, many of whom were present. Thus this man who fought in this manner against the work of God, did not prosper as he expected” (Cannon, My First Mission, 30–31).

  29. [29]After reading Cannon’s letter, Keeler wrote, “I feel a great desire to have the language of this people as we feel as thou[gh] our hands were tied at present” (Keeler journal, Mar. 31, 1851).