POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
2G3 
who never were before allowed to join the other sex 
in any acts of worship. Few remained behind ; all the 
inhabitants of the district or village^ who were able^ 
attended public worship. It is true^ there was no 
Missionary to preach the gospel to them^ or to lead 
their public service^ yet it was performed with earnest¬ 
ness, propriety, and devotional feeling. 
The more intelligent among the natives, who had been 
longest under instruction at Eimeo, usually presided. 
They sung a hymn; a portion of their scripture history, 
which was entirely composed of scripture extracts, was 
read; and prayer, in simplicity of language but sincerity 
of heart, was offered up to God. Those who had not 
printed books, wrote out portions of scripture for these 
occasions, and sometimes the prayers they used. 
These were often remarkably simple, expressive, and 
appropriate: I have one of Pomare’s by me, in his 
own hand-v/riting, furnished by Mr. Nott. There is no 
date affixed to it, but from the evident frequency with 
which it has been used, and the portion of scripture 
written on the preceding pages of the same sheet of 
paper, I am inclined to think it was written about this 
period. The prayer is excellent, and the translation, 
which I also received from Mr. Nott, will require from 
the Christian reader no apology for its insertion, as a speci¬ 
men of the style and sentiments employed by the natives 
of Tahiti in their devotional services. It is as follows ; 
^‘Jehovah, thou God of our salvation, hear our 
prayers, pardon thou our sins, and save our souls. Our 
sins are great, and more in number than the fishes^ in the 
* This is, perhaps, the most natural and expressive figure, or com¬ 
parison, an Islander could make. There is no idea of multitude more 
familiar to his mind than that of a shoal of fishes, by which the shores 
he inhabits are occasionally or periodically visited. 
