132 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
they were depressed^ were of no ordinary character. 
Few among modern Missionaries have been called to 
endure such afflictions; and it is matter of devout ac¬ 
knowledgment^ that^ notwithstanding the darkness of 
their prospects and the destitution of their circum¬ 
stances, they were still enabled to persevere, and leave 
the event with Him, at whose command they had entered 
on their work. 
Peace continuing in the island during the close of 
1806, and the beginning of 1807> allowed the teach¬ 
ers to pursue uninterruptedly their endeavours to plant 
Christianity among the inhabitants, although at that 
time with little prospect of success. 
The ravages of diseases originating in licentiousness, 
or nurtured by the vicious habits of the people, and 
those first brought among them by European vessels, ap¬ 
peared to be tending fast to the total desolation of Tahiti. 
The survivors of such as were carried off by these means, 
feeling the incipient effects of disease themselves, and 
beholding their relatives languishing under maladies of 
foreign origin, inflicted, as they supposed, by the God 
of the foreigners, were led to view the Missionaries 
as in some degree the cause of their suffering; and 
frequently, not only rejected their message, but charged 
them with being the authors of their misery, by praying 
against them to their God. When the Missionaries 
spoke to them on the subject of religion, the deformed 
and diseased were sometimes brought out and ranged 
before them, as evidences of the efficacy of their 
prayers, and the destructive power of their God. The 
feelings of the people on this subject, were frequently 
so strong, and their language so violent, that tlie 
Missionaries have been obliged to hasten from places 
