236 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
of food was dressed and presented^ together with several 
bundles of native cloth. On such occasions^ it was cus¬ 
tomary for a priest or priests to attend ; and before any 
of it was eaten^ to offer the whole to the gods^ by taking 
parts of the animals^ and particular kinds of the fruity 
to the temple^ and depositing them upon the altar. The 
king and his friends were desirous on this occasion to 
prevent such an acknowledgment. When, therefore, 
the food was presented to Pomare - vahine, before 
any article was touched by the attendants, and while 
the spectators were expecting the priests to select the 
customary offerings to the idols, one of her principal 
men, who was a Christian, came forward, uncovered his 
head, and, looking up to heaven, offered in an audible voice 
their acknowledgments and thanksgivings to Jehovah, 
who liberally gave them food and raiment and every 
earthly blessing. The assembled multitude were con¬ 
founded and astonished 3 and the food being, by this 
act, offered as they considered to Jehovah, no one dared 
to take any part of it to the idol temple. 
When the party reached Tahiti, they landed in Pare, 
the hereditary district of Pomare’s family, where they 
were welcomed by the friends of the king, and the guar¬ 
dian of Aimata^ his only child, who with her nurse 
resided here. 
From the few Christians in the neighbourhood, they 
were happy to learn that the inhabitants of large 
sections of Pare, and the adjacent district of Matavai, 
the former residence of their teachers, had renounced 
idolatry, and were desirous to receive Christian in- 
truction. 
By the queen, or her sister, the king sent over a new 
book to Aimata, his infant daughter, which being con- 
