208 SENSIBILITY OF THE QUEEN: 



friendly manner, with many &quot; Arohas /&quot; and in 

 vited me to take a seat on a chair by her side. 

 Her memory was better than my own ; she re 

 cognised me as the Russian officer who had vi 

 sited the deceased monarch Tameamea, on the 

 island of O Wahi. On that occasion I had 

 been presented to the Queens ; but since that 

 time Nomahanna had so much increased in size, 

 that I did not know her again. She was aware 

 how highly I esteemed her departed consort ; my 

 appearance brought him vividly to her remem 

 brance, and she could not restrain her tears, in 

 speaking of his death. &quot; The people,&quot; said she, 

 &quot; have lost in him a protector and a father. 

 What will now be the fate of these islands, the 

 God of the Christians only knows.&quot; She now 

 informed me with- much self-gratulation that she 

 was a Christian, and attended the prayer-meeting 

 several times every day. Desirous to know 

 how far she had been instructed in the religion 

 she professed, I inquired through Marini the 

 grounds of her conversion. She replied that 

 she could not exactly describe them, but that 

 the missionary Bengham, who understood read 

 ing and writing perfectly well, had assured her 



