66 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
receive tribute from those who might occupy the 
remaining parts; but by no means^ perpetually to 
alienate it from the king, or chief, to whom it originally 
belonged. This they knew could not be done without 
their permission, and that permission they could at any 
time withhold. In 1801, when the Royal Admiral arrived, 
Pomare was asked, when the Missionaries were intro¬ 
duced to him, if they were still to consider the district 
theirs; and though he replied in the affirmative, and 
even asked if they wished the inhabitants to remove, it 
afterwards appeared that the natives considered them 
only as tenants at will. All they desired was, the per¬ 
manent occupation of the ground on which their dwell¬ 
ings and gardens were situated; yet, in writing to the 
Society, in 1804, they remark, in reference to the 
district, ^^The inhabitants do not consider the district, 
nor any part of it, as belonging to us, except the 
small sandy spot we occupy with our dwellings and 
gardens ; and even as to that, there are persons who 
claim the ground as theirs.^’ Whatever advantages the 
kings or chiefs might expect to derive from this settle¬ 
ment on the island, it must not be supposed that it was 
from any desire to receive general or religious instruc¬ 
tions. This was evident, from a speech once made by 
Haamanemane, who said that they gave the people 
plenty of the parau (word) talk and prayer, but very few 
knives, axes, scissors, or cloth. These, however, were 
soon afterwards amply supplied. A desire to possess 
such property, and to receive the assistance of the 
Europeans in the exercise of the mechanic arts, or in 
their wars, was probably the motive by which the 
natives were most strongly influenced. 
Captain Wilson was, however, happy to find the king. 
