Consolation Drawn from the Book of Mormon--Its Translation into the
Hawaiian Language--Great Joy in the Labor--A Committee to Raise Funds
to Purchase a Press, Type, etc.--Press, etc., Ordered, and Then Sent to
California--The Book of Mormon Printed--The First Translation into the
Language of a Nation of Red Men--Kindred Languages Spoken Through the
Polynesian Islands--The "Western Standard"
Some of my readers may be placed in circumstances similar to those
which surrounded me a part of the time on the Sandwich Islands; and
it may be profitable to tell them how I kept from losing courage and
becoming home-sick. My love for home is naturally very strong. For the
first year after I left home I could scarcely think about it without my
feelings getting the better of me. But here I was in a distant land,
among a people whose language and habits were strange to me. Their
very food was foreign to me, and unlike anything I had ever before
seen or tasted. I was much of the time separated from my companions,
the Elders. Until I mastered the language and commenced preaching and
baptizing the people, I was indeed a stranger among them.
Before I commenced holding regular meetings, I had plenty of time for
meditation, and to review all the events of my short life, and to think
of the beloved home from which I was so far separated. It was then that
I found the value of the Book of Mormon. It was a book which I always
loved. But I learned there to appreciate it as I had never done before.
If I felt inclined to be lonely, to be low spirited, or home-sick.
I had only to turn to its sacred pages to receive consolation, new
strength and a rich outpouring of the Spirit. Scarcely a page that did
not contain encouragement for such as I was. The salvation of man was
the great theme upon which its writers dwelt, and for this they were
willing to undergo every privation and make every sacrifice.
What were my petty difficulties compared with those afflictions which
they had to endure? If I expected to share the glory for which they
contended, I could see that I must labor in the same Spirit. If the
sons of King Mosiah could relinquish their high estate, and go forth
among the degraded Lamanites to labor as they did, should not I labor
with patience and devoted zeal for the salvation of these poor red men,
heirs of the same promise?
Let me, recommend this book, therefore, to young and old, if they need
comfort and encouragement. Especially can I recommend it to those who
are away from home on missions. No man can read it, partake of its
spirit and obey its teachings, without being filled with a deep love
for the souls of men and a burning zeal to do all in his power to save
them. Every Latter-day Saint should read it, as well as the other
records which the Lord has given to us.
The conversations which I had with the natives concerning the Book of
Mormon and the origin of the red men, made them anxious to see it.
After branches had been built up at Wailuku, at Waiehu and other places
around, by Elder F. A. Hammond and myself, I was led to commence the
translation of the Book of Mormon into the language of the Islands--the
Hawaiian language, as it is called.
My place of residence was at Brother J. H. Napela's, Wailuku. He was
an educated, intelligent Hawaiian, who thoroughly understood his own
language, and could give me the exact meaning of words. The meaning
attached to many words depended upon the context. It was important,
therefore, in translating, to know that the words used conveyed the
correct idea. Unless the language used carried to the Hawaiian mind the
same meaning precisely which the words in our translation gave to us,
it would not be correct.
Probably but few in the nation were as well qualified as Brother
Napela, to help me in this respect. He was a descendant of the old
chiefs of the Island of Maui, in whose families the language was
preserved and spoken in the greatest purity, and he had advantages
which no other equally well educated man, at that time, possessed. He
had studied the principles of the gospel very thoroughly, he had a
comprehensive mind to grasp the truth, and he had been greatly favored
by the Spirit. As I progressed with the translation, his comprehension
of the work increased. He got the spirit of the book, and was able to
seize the points presented to him very quickly.
In the last days of the month of January, 1851, I commenced the work
of translation. My fellow-laborers, the Elders, encouraged me, and
from the First Presidency at home--Presidents Young, Kimball and
Richards--came words of cheer, approving of what I was doing, and
counseling me to persevere.
The labor of preaching, baptizing, confirming, organizing branches,
administering to the sick and traveling around visiting branches, and
over other islands, pressed upon me and claimed the greater portion
of my time. Those were busy seasons for all who would labor, and they
were exceedingly delightful. The Lord seemed very near to us upon those
islands in those days.
The time occupied by me in translation, were the days and hours which
were not claimed by other duties. In the beginning my method was to
translate a few pages, and then, when opportunity offered, explain to
Brother Napela the ideas, whether historical or doctrinal, in great
fullness. By this means he would, get a pretty thorough comprehension
of the part I was translating. I would then read the translation to
him, going carefully over every word and sentence, and learning from
him the impression the language used conveyed to his mind. In this way
I was able to correct any obscure expression which might be used, and
secure the Hawaiian idiom.
The Spirit of translation rested upon me, it even became a very easy
labor for me. I obtained great facility of expression in the language,
and before I got through with the book, I had a range of words at my
command, superior to the great bulk of the people.
This was a very natural result. Doctrines, principles and ideas were
in the Book of Mormon which were outside the ordinary thoughts of the
people. The translation of these, called forth the full powers of the
language, and really required--that which I felt I had while engaged in
this work--the assistance of the Spirit of inspiration.
At some times in revising the translation, I had other intelligent men
present with Brother Napela.
In this way I went through the whole book, carefully reading and
explaining every word and sentence to him and to them; and if there was
an obscure expression, not leaving it till it was made plain. When it
had been thus revised I copied it into a book. The copying, however,
into the book, for the want of time, was never quite finished. But,
excepting that it was written in very fine writing, because of the
scarcity of paper, it really did not need copying.
The translation was finished on July the 22nd, 1853--about two years
and a half from the time I commenced it. But it was not until the 27th
of the succeeding September that we completed the revision.
My labors in the ministry have always been to me exceedingly joyful;
but no part of them ever furnished me such pleasure as did my work
at translating that precious record. After I commenced it, I had, in
preaching, an increased flow of the Spirit, in testimony I had greater
power, and in the administration of all the ordinances of the gospel
I felt that I had greater faith. I felt very happy. In truth, my
happiness was beyond description. Thankfulness constantly filled my
heart, because of my being permitted to do this work.
In December, 1853, I visited Kauai, the extreme westerly island,
which is inhabited, of the group. I had a double purpose in visiting
this island--to visit the Saints and bear testimony to all the people
concerning the work, and to again revise the translation of the Book of
Mormon. There was a native Elder laboring in the ministry with Elder
William Farrer at that time on the island, by the name of Kauwahi,
a man of acute intellect and talent and good education, and who was
called the most eloquent and best reasoner in the Hawaiian nation. I
was desirous to have him and Brother Farrer go through the translation
with me, to see that no word had been omitted, and to correct any
inaccuracies which might have escaped my previous reading.
We commenced this revision at the town of Waimea, the farthest
inhabited point west on the Sandwich Islands, on the 24th of December,
1853, and finished it on the last day of January, 1854.
While attending to this we did not neglect our other duties among
the Saints and people. During this revision, I read the book through
twice, with the exception of a few pages: once to Brother Farrer, who
looked at the English version, to see there were no words or sentences
omitted; afterwards to Brother Kauwahi, who also looked at the English
book, he being a little acquainted with English, to correct any
inaccuracies in the translation or the idiom.
Where there was an expression that was not very plain, or that was
out of the ordinary line of the Hawaiian thought--and there were many
such--I took pains to explain it fully to Brother Kauwahi, as I had
done before to Brother Napela, so as to be sure that I had used the
most simple and clear language to convey the idea.
In my journal I find that I say it was more free from mistakes than I
could expect it to be under the circumstances in which I was placed
at the time of translating--there were calls to preach, frequent
interruptions to go and administer to the sick, and often conversations
which distracted my attention; but in the midst of which I had to
translate and copy.
At a conference of the Elders, held at Wailuku, October 6th, 1853,
the question was discussed, whether it would be better to employ some
printing firm to print the Book of Mormon, or to purchase a press and
printing materials for the mission, with which to print that and other
works necessary for the instruction of the Saints. It was decided
that the better course would be to buy a press, etc. A committee of
three--Elders Philip B. Lewis, Benjamin F. Johnson and myself--was
selected to take such measures as might be necessary to raise the funds.
At that conference I was released from the charge of the Island of
Maui, and appointed to travel all through the islands, to collect means
for the publication of the Book of Mormon. And here it may be proper to
say that those who subscribed for one copy or more of the work, were
afterwards furnished therewith when it was published.
Brother Edward Dennis, a white man who had been baptized at Honolulu,
loaned the committee, on their note, one thousand dollars towards
the purchase of the press, type, paper, etc. These funds we sent to
Brother John M. Horner, California, for him to use for the purchase of
what we wanted. The Press, type and paper were purchased in New York,
were shipped around Cape Horn to Honolulu, and, as I had returned
home to Salt Lake Valley, they were sent to Elder Parley P. Pratt, by
his request, at San Francisco, California. He thought at that time of
publishing a paper there, and wrote to the First Presidency for me to
be appointed a mission to assist him.
I had barely reached home after an absence of five years. I remained
there about five months and a half. At the April Conference, 1855,
I was called to go on a mission to California, to publish the Book
of Mormon in the Hawaiian language, and to assist Elder Pratt in the
publication of a paper. Elders Joseph Bull and Matthew F. Wilkie
were selected to go with me. When we reached San Francisco, Elder
Pratt had started for home. I succeeded in reaching him at Brother
John C. Naile's ranch, where he was completing his preparations for
the journey. He set me apart to preside, in his place, over northern
California and Oregon, and we separated, he to go home, and I to return
to San Francisco.
Our first business was to secure a suitable office, set up the press,
and go to work. Brothers Bull and Wilkie knew nothing about the
Hawaiian language; but the copy, to begin with, was good, and they soon
became so familiar with the words that they could set it in type nearly
as well as they could English, and made but very few mistakes.
President Young counseled me to take my wife with me upon this mission.
My method of reading the proof was to get her to read the English book
while I looked at the proofs of the translation. By this means I was
able to detect any omission of words or sentences. After going through
the proofs in this way, I read them again, to see if any errors in
spelling, etc., had escaped me. This was my only way of reading by
copy; for I had no one with me who could read the Hawaiian. When we had
the edition struck off and bound, they were sent to the Elders upon the
islands.
Thus was the Book of Mormon first translated and published in the
language of a race of red men--a part of the race for whom its promises
are most abundant. The Elders who have since labored upon those
islands, know the good the book has accomplished. Its circulation can
never fail to benefit all who will read it.
The language of the Sandwich Islanders is a dialect of the Polynesian
language, spoken by the Islanders with red skins all through the
Pacific. Should the day ever come, as I trust it will, when the
natives of other groups shall be visited and brought to the knowledge
of the gospel, it will take but little trouble to adapt the Hawaiian
translation to their language. But whether or not, the book has been
published to the Hawaiian nation. The Lord plainly manifested that it
was His will that this work should be done, and for its accomplishment,
He opened the way most marvelously.
The publication of the book was not a part of my first mission; but
as the sketch of the translation would not be complete without the
addition of these few particulars respecting its publication, I insert
them. In addition, I may also say that, after the publication of the
Book of Mormon, the press and type were used for the publication of the
_Western Standard_, a paper which many of my adult readers may remember.