116 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
terms of capitulation that the king would offer^ Captain 
Bishop returned to Matavai^ and on the day following 
Pomare sailed about twelve miles towards Pare. Here 
he fixed his encampment; and, although peace was not 
concluded, hostilities appear to have been for some time 
suspended. 
Soon after the return of Captain Bishop, the Nautilus 
sailed 3 and the Venus having returned to Tahiti, on the 
19th of the following month. Captain Bishop with his 
men left the island. 
Dreadful and alarming as these superstitious and 
bloody contests had been, and though still exposed to 
the horrors of savage war, the Missionaries, protected 
in their work by the care of God, felt that they were 
a -devote to God and truth, 
And sworn to man’s eternal weal, beyond 
Repentance sworn, or thought of turning back. 
and determined, in dependence on Divine protection and 
support, to maintain their station; diligently to labour 
and patiently to wait for the reward of their toil. They 
beheld, with deepest distress, their gardens destroyed, 
their trees cut down, the fences they had reared with so 
much care demolished, the country around a desolate 
wilderness, and the inhabitants reduced to a state of 
destitution and wretchedness ; yet they could not con¬ 
template the remarkable interposition of Providence, in 
affording them the means of perfect security amidst 
the surrounding destruction, without unmingled emotions 
of admiration and gratitude. 
The cessation of hostilities afforded the Missionaries a 
respite from anxious watching, and allowed them to pur- 
