POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
235 
or the designation of Nazarene or Christian was given to 
the first disciples. Since the profession of Christianity 
has become general, it has been much less used than 
formerly. Haapii parau^ learners, or brethren, friends, 
and disciples, are the terms most frequently employed 
by the converts themselves. 
In the close of 1814, Pomare-vahine, the daughter of 
the king of Raiatea, and the sister of Pomare’s queen, 
paid a visit to Eimeo, from the Leeward Islands, and in the 
month of May, 1815, made a voyage to Tahiti, in com¬ 
pany with her sister the queen, with a numerous train of 
companions and attendants, most of whom professed to be 
Christians. Their object was to make the tour of Tahiti, 
with the visitor from the Leeward Islands. Previously, 
however, to their embarkation, a signal triumph was 
achieved in favour of Christianity, at a public festival, in 
which they were the most conspicuous party. 
It has ever been considered a mark of respect 
due to every distinguished visitor, to prepare, soon after 
the arrival of such an individual, a sumptuous feast, 
termed by the natives a /aamuraa^ or feeding. Not, 
however, by furnishing a rich and splendid entertain¬ 
ment at the habitation of the proprietors, and inviting 
as guests the parties in honour of whom it was pre¬ 
pared, but by cooking a number of whole pigs, fowls, and 
fish, with a proportionate accompaniment of roots and 
vegetables, puddings, and what may be called their made- 
dishes, and carrying the whole to the encampment of the 
visitor, with a considerable addition of the choicest 
fruits the season may afford. 
An expensive and sumptuous entertainment of this 
kind was furnished by the chiefs of Eimeo for the 
queen’s sister. A large quantity of every valuable kind 
