| 109 the work. Bro. Grouard thinks that twenty or thirty elders might be well employed on this group; he will probably do a great work in those islands.
"The productions of the Society Islands are breadfruit, bananas, oranges, faii, plantains, yams, sweet potatoes, taro, vites, guavas, etc., etc. Cattle and horses have been brought here, and hogs, dogs, goats, sheep, and fowls are here also. The natives are tall, well proportioned, and muscular, of an open intelligent countenance, dark olive or copper color, quick of apprehension, of a mild disposition and very friendly. Finally, on the 3d July, 1845, I left for home in ship 'Free Brother,' Captain Mitchell. On the 6th made the island of Tooboui; went on shore, but was much disappointed not seeing Bro. Pratt, who was on the other side of the island, six miles distant. A native immediately ran to carry him word of my arrival, but the captain would not wait, so I was obliged to leave without seeing him. I learned that he had baptized eight or nine Americans who were building the schooner, and about forty natives, in all fifty or more.
"After staying on shore about an hour, and obtaining a few vegetables and hogs, we went on board and stood away for Cape Horn, after passing which the Captain gave me leave to preach, which I did four or five Sundays. The result was that seven or eight believed, two of whom I baptized in Philadelphia. The captain himself believed, but finding that he must obey also, became very bitter, which rendered some part of the voyage rather disagreeable. After a passage of one hundred and thirty days from Tahiti, I arrived at Nantucket, Massachusetts, on the 6th of November, and on the 22d arrived in Philadelphia, where I stayed two days and baptized three. On the 24th left for Nauvoo, where I arrived on the 29th of December.
"Thus, after an absence of two years and a half, I have circumnavigated the globe, to build up the kingdom of Christ and prepare a way for the spread of the gospel among the islands of the sea.
"NOAH ROGERS"
-Times and Seasons, vol. 6, pp. 1085 to 1087.
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