Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: II. TITUS COAN. A Belt of island coast-line extending from north to south a hundred miles, and from one to three miles wide, dotted with groves and seamed by deep mountain chasms and scoriaceous lava-fields, varied by plains and hills of pasture-land, upon which feed herds of wild cattle — a land inhabited by 15,000 natives, grouped in villages of two or more hundred people, vicious, shameless, yet tractable, slaves to their chiefs, and herding together like animals — to this parish, occupying the eastern third of the island of Hawaii, was sent in 1835 the young missionary, Titus Coan. In the town of Killmgworth, Conn., he was born of old New England stock, Feb. 1, 1801. His boyhood was passed upon his father's farm, and he attended thevillage schools. Later he went to a military school; after this was employed as a teacher in Western New York; and in 1831, through the influence of his cousin, the Rev. Asahel Nettleton, he entered the theological seminary at Auburn. While Mr. Coan was in the seminary he gave much time to revival effort, and success attended his labors. He was licensed to preach April 17, 1833. On Aug. 16, 1833, he was sent to Patagonia by the American Board, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Arms ; and for four months they made an earnest but unsuccessful attempt to communicate to the ferocious nomads something of their message. The savages threatened them with death ; and it was only by stratagem that they made their escape, and boarded a chance vessel, and returned to New London, Conn., in May, 1834. Mr. Coan had been unable to receive any communication from his family or from his fiancee, Miss Fidelia Church, during his absence; and the uncertaintyof his fate had been the source of the deepest anxiety to them. After this trial came the joy of reu...