POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
89 
has been with him, has said, when the Missionaries 
were kneeling down in prayer, at their morning or 
evening family worship, ^^See, they are all down on 
their knees, quite defenceless ; how easily your people 
might rush upon them, and kill them all, and then their 
property would be yours.’"’ And it is a melancholy 
fact, that the influence of unprincipled and profligate 
foreigners, has been more fatal to the Missionaries, 
more demoralizing to the natives, more inimical to the 
introduction of Christianity, and more opposed to its 
establishment, than all the prejudices of the people in 
favour of idolatry, and all the attachment of the priests 
to the interests of their gods. 
However much those who remained might have been 
affected by the departure of so many of their com¬ 
panions, they felt no disposition to abandon the field, 
or relax their endeavours for the benefit of the people. 
Pomare had not only sent an atonement and a peace¬ 
offering, but, even before the Missionaries sailed, had 
made war upon the district, and had killed two of the 
men who had been engaged in assaulting them. This 
was, indeed, a matter of regret to the Missionaries; but 
it was also an evidence of his displeasure at the treatment 
they had received. On his assurances of protection, 
those who remained reposed the most entire confidence; 
which, during his subsequent life, his conduct ^uniformly 
warranted. Committing their persons to the merciful 
and watchful providence of God, and, under him, to the 
friendly chiefs who had manifested so much concern for 
their safety; they had sent all the fire-arms, ammunition, 
and other weapons, possessed by the Society, on board 
the Nautilus, excepting two muskets, which they pre¬ 
sented to Pomare and Idia. To the former they gave 
N 
