POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
107 
in several parts of Tahiti; and though the natives were 
told it was palatable food^ they were so mistaken in 
the nature of the fruity that they baked numbers of 
themy in their native ovens, before they attempted to 
eat any undressed. 
The Missionaries who had arrived in the Duff, had now 
acquired so much of the language as to be able to preach 
to the natives in their own tongue, and to engage in the 
catechetical instruction of the children. In these exercises 
they did not confine themselves to the inhabitants of their 
own vicinity, but visited the adjacent districts; and, in 
the month of March, 1802, Mr. Nott, accompanied by 
Mr. Eider, made the first Missionary tour of Tahiti, for 
the purpose of preaching to the inhabitants. They were, 
in general, hospitably entertained, and had many op- 
portunities of speaking to the people, who frequently 
listened with attention, and often made inquiries, either 
while the preacher was speaking, or after the service 
had ended. They seemed interested in the account of 
the creation, and deeply affected with the exhibition of 
Jesus Christ, as the true atonement for sin; instead of 
pearls, or pigs, or other offerings, which they had been 
accustomed to consider as the best means of propitiating 
their deities. Some said they desired to pray to the true 
God, but were afraid the gods of Tahiti would destroy 
them if they did: others remarked, that the Duff came 
last among the ships, and that, if the gospel had been 
conveyed by the first ship, the gods of feathers, as they 
denominated their idols, would long ago have been 
destroyed: and one of the principal chiefs, at whose 
residence they spent the night, observed to the natives 
around, that he believed they had the true foundation, 
or source of knowledge. 
