POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
159 
the hand^ and expressed their joy at seeing me among 
them. My joy^ and excitement of feelings was not less 
than theirs. There was something so pleasing and 
novel in their appearance^ so peculiar in their voices 
when singing, and in their native language, both during 
the prayers and sermon, and something so solemn and 
earnest in their attention, with such an air of sincerity 
in devotion during the whole service, that it deeply 
affected my heart. I was desirous of speaking to them 
in return, and expressing the grateful satisfaction with 
which I had beheld their worship ; but the scene before 
me had taken such a powerful hold of my feelings, that 
I returned home in silence, filled with astonishment at 
the change that had taken place, and deeply im¬ 
pressed with the evidence it afforded of the efficacy of 
the gospel, and the power of the Almighty. At eleven 
o’clock I attended public worship in the English 
language. 
At four in the afternoon the natives again assem¬ 
bled, and T attended at their worship. Though I 
could not understand their language, I was pleased 
with the large attendance, and the serious and earnest 
manner in which the people listened to an ani- 
mated discourse delivered by Mr. Nott. In the even¬ 
ing several of the Missionaries met for social worship, and 
with this sacred exercise we closed our first Sabbath in 
the Society Islands, under a deep impression of the 
advantages of Christianity, and the pleasing effects which 
we had that day witnessed, of Divine influence over the 
hearts of the most profligate idolaters. 
In the afternoon of the succeeding Sabbaths, I visited 
a number of Christian chiefs at their own houses. We 
usually found them either reading together, conversing 
