SOLEMNIZATION 
236 
with their conduct ; and every reason to believe 
tliat they are Christians in heart and affection, as 
well as in profession. Previously to admitting 
them, I delivered an address on the subject and 
nature of the ordinance ; to which they all listened, 
with breathless attention.* 
In tlie next fact which I shall mention, it will 
be seen that tlie celebration of one of our beauti- 
ful services was interrupted, in a slight degree, 
bv the ruder usages of the natives. On the 
morning of October 19th, 1830, I married my lad 
Pahau to Rea, a young female from the Pa of the 
Ngai-te-wake : the wedding was well furnished 
with guests ; upwards of three liundred strangers 
were present ; and three or four times this num- 
ber were outside tlie chapel, unable to gain 
admittance : — all of them were feasted on the 
occasion. There was a little opposition to the 
wedding ; but not till it was over, as is always the 
custom here. The bride’s mother came to me, 
tlie preceding afternoon, and said, she was well 
pleased in her heart that her daughter was going 
to be married to Pahau ; but that she must be 
angry about it with her mouth, in the presence 
of her tribe, lest the natives should come and take 
away all her possessions, and destroy her crops. 
Tliis is customary upon all great occasions : if a 
chief meets with an accident, he is stripped, as a 
* There will be found, in a subsequent part of this Chapter, 
a variety of letters from the natives, expressive of their feel- 
ings and desires, relative to Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. 
