DEATH OF POMAREH. 161 
his dominion by family connexion, he married 
a daughter of the most powerful of these royal 
vassals, her three sisters, according to an ancient 
custom, becoming at the same time his wives. 
Peace was thus restored to Tahaiti and the 
whole Archipelago. Pomareh was a wise and 
mild ruler. He left his subjects undisturbed 
in their new religion, although he did not pro- 
fess it himself. The Missionaries, now limited 
to their powers of persuasion, found means to 
retain their disciples in their adopted faith, so 
that the refugees of the mountains preferred 
remaining in their retreats, to finding them- 
selves objects of hatred and contempt amongst 
their old friends and relations. At length Po- 
mareh himself, with his whole family, yielded 
to the arguments of the Missionary Nott, al- 
lowed himself to be baptized, and died as a 
Christian, in the prime of life, in consequence 
of an immoderate indulgence in the spirituous 
liquors which he had obtained from the ships 
of his new brethren. 
An unconquerable passion for ardent spirits 
had acquired an entire dominion over him, al- 
though he was so well aware of their deleteri- 
