POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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strain their followers, who, in time of war, threw off all 
subordination; and expecting that the victors, after 
this success, would instantly attack their dwelling, and 
that their lives were no longer secure, the Missionaries re¬ 
maining at Tahiti fled to Eimeo, where they were shortly 
after joined by the king. Some months afterwards, 
three others were compelled to follow their companions to 
Huahine. During their residence here, some among them 
had made the tour of the island, and endeavoured, with 
but little prospect of success, to instruct the inhabitants. 
The melancholy prospect of affairs, their expulsion 
from Tahiti, the total destruction of the settlement, and 
the little probability of a restoration of peace, induced 
them to determine on removing by the first opportunity 
to Port Jackson. This occurred in the course of the 
year ; and on the 26th of October 1809, they all sailed 
from the islands, excepting Mr. Hayward, who remained 
in Huahine, and Mr. Nott, who still resided in Eimeo 
with the king. 
After the victory of the 22d of December 1808, the 
rebels plundered the district of Matavai and Pare, and, 
devoting to destruction every house and plantation, re¬ 
duced the whole country to a state of the wildest desola¬ 
tion and ruin. The Mission houses were ransacked and 
burnt, and whatever the insurgents were unable to carry 
away was destroyed. Every implement of iron was con¬ 
verted into a weapon of war. The most valuable books 
were either committed to the flames, or distributed 
among the warriors for the purpose of making cartridge 
papers, and the printing types were melted into musket 
balls. 
During such seasons, it was not merely apprehension, 
but actual danger, to which all the Europeans were 
