POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 239 
29tli of July^ 18175 nearly two years after the total 
overthrow of idolatry in 1815. 
He was a man of decision and daring enterprise; 
and though on the occasion in Tahiti above referred 
to^ he may have acted with a degree of zeal some¬ 
what imprudent^ it was a zeal resulting, not from 
ignorant rashness, hut enlightened principle, and holy 
indignation against the boasting threatenings and lying 
vanities of the priests of idolatry; to whose arts of 
deception he had formerly been no stranger. 
The influence of the Bure Atua in the nation, from 
the rank many of them held, and the confidence with 
which they maintained the superiority of their religion, 
together with the accessions that were daily made to 
their numbers from various parts of the island, not 
only increased the latent enmity against Chris¬ 
tianity which the idolaters had always cherished, but 
awakened the first emotion of apprehension lest this 
new word should ultimately prevail, and the gods, their 
temples, and their worship, he altogether disregarded. 
To avoid this, they determined on the destruction, the 
total annihilation, of every one in Tahiti who was known 
to pray to Jehovah. 
A project was formed by the pagan chiefs of Pare, 
Matavai, and Hapaiano, to assassinate, in one night, 
every individual of the Bure Atua. The persecuted 
party was already formidable in point of numbers and 
rank, and the idolaters, in order to ensure success in 
their murderous design, dnvited the chiefs*of Atehuru 
and Papara to join them. The time was fixed for the 
perpetration of ^this bloody deed. At the hour of mid¬ 
night they were to be attacked, their property plun¬ 
dered, their houses burnt, and every prisoner secured. 
