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preserved them^ and they returned^ to render to him the 
thanks and the glory due unto his name. 
The conduct of Patii^ when it became more extensively 
known, produced the most decisive effects on the priests 
and people. Numbers in Tahiti and Eimeo were em¬ 
boldened, by his example—not only in burning their 
idols, but demolishing their maraes or temples; their 
altars were also stripped and overthrown, and the wood 
employed in their construction converted into fuel, and 
used in the native kitchens. 
Patii became the pupil of the Missionaries, and a 
constant worshipper of the true God, persevering amidst 
much ridicule and persecution. Whether his mind had 
at this time undergone a divine and decisive change, it 
is not necessary now to inquire; every evidence that 
could be required, has since been given, of the sincerity 
of his profession of Christianity, and the influence 
of its principles on his heart. His conduct, from 
this period, has been uniformly moral and upright, his 
mind humble, his disposition affectionate and mild, and 
his habits of life reformed and industrious. The in¬ 
fluence of his character in Papetoai, where he is best 
known, has occasioned his election to an important 
office in the Christian church. He is a valuable and 
steady friend, and an assistant, in whom the Mis¬ 
sionaries can repose confidence. Although not a 
chief of the highest rank, he had been raised by the 
king and people to the ofiice of a magistrate, in his 
own district. His conduct on the above occasion gave 
idolatry a stab more deadly than any which it had 
before received, and inflicted a wound, from which, 
with all the energy subsequently manifested, it never 
could recover. 
