OF THE SOUTH SEAS 491 



From then on the cross became the symbol of the new 

 rehgion, and those who had been most faithful to the 

 old were the strongest disciples. Until the French ex- 

 pelled the missionary-consul of England, Pritchard, the 

 missionaries virtually governed Tahiti ; but with the con- 

 flict of sects and the growing claims of trade, piety lan- 

 guished, until now church-going was become a social 

 pastime, and of small influence upon the conduct of the 

 Tahitians. The pastors were no longer of the type of 

 the pioneers, and with the fast decrease of the race, the 

 Tahitians were left largely to their own devices. Half 

 a dozen religions supported ministers from America and 

 Europe in Papeete; but there was no longer a fire of 

 proselytizing, as all were nominally Christians. In 

 Tautira everybody went to the Protestant or the Catho- 

 lic church, the latter having a fifth as many attendants 

 as the former. A reason for this may have been that 

 there was no French priest resident at Tautira, and no 

 Tahitian priests, whereas Tahitian preachers abound. 

 Also the chiefs were Protestants, and their influence 

 notable. 



Ori-a-Ori, though busied in his official duties, and by 

 nature a silent man, assumed of me a care, and in time 

 gave me a friendship beyond my possible return to him. 

 I sent to Papeete for a variety of edibles from the stores 

 of the New-Zealand and German merchants, and spread 

 a gay table, to which I often invited Choti and T'yonni, 

 who were my hosts as frequently. Ori-a-Ori every 

 evening sat with me, and numbers of times we read the 

 Bible, I, first, reciting the verse in French, and he fol- 

 lowing in Tahitian. His greatest liking was for the 

 chapters in which the Saviour's Hfe on the seaside with 



