198 _ DIFFICULTIES OF CONVERSION. 
family, with Messrs. Bennet and Tyrman, kneel- 
ing round a breakfast-table, on which coffee and 
various kinds of meat were arranged. T'yrman 
was praying aloud, the rest silently joining him. 
He thanked God for the progress the Mission- 
aries had made in spreading Christianity. How 
willingly would I have concurred in his thanks- 
giving, had the religion they taught been true, 
genuine Christianity, propitious to human virtue 
and human happiness. 
The prayer lasted yet a quarter of an hour ; 
on its conclusion, the company rose and break- 
fasted with a good appetite; but offered nothing 
to the distinguished personages in the other 
apartment, who were suffered to leave the house 
unnoticed. 
I found the bread-fruit, as baked in the ovens 
by the Europeans here, excellent. The natives 
retain their old custom of baking in the earth. 
During breakfast, Wilson related the diff- 
culties he had encountered in the conversion of 
the ‘Tahaitians. They would not allow that his 
faith was superior to their own; and when he 
appealed to the miracles which confirmed the 
truth of the Christian doctrine, they required 
