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reigned the whole time of the service. The devout 
attention these poor people paid to what was going 
forward, and the earnestness with which they listened 
to their teacher, would shame an English congrega¬ 
tion. I declare, I never saw any thing to equal it! 
Objects of the greatest curiosity at all other times, 
they paid no sort of attention to, during the solemnity 
of their worship. After it was over, crowds, as usual, 
gathered round, to look at our uniforms, to them so 
new and uncommon. I looked round very often dur¬ 
ing the sermon, and saw not one of the congregation 
flag in their attention to it. Every face was directed 
to the preacher, and each countenance strongly marked 
with sincerity and pleasure. I had heard of the suc¬ 
cess of the Missionaries before I came to Otaheite, 
and, after making great allowance for exaggeration in 
the accounts they had sent home, there remained 
sufficient to lead me to anticipate that they had done 
a great deal. But I now declare, their accounts were 
beyond measure modest, and, far from colouring their 
success, they had not described it equal to what I 
found it. It is impossible to describe the sensations 
experienced on seeing the poor natives of Otaheite 
walking to a Protestant church in the most orderly 
and decent manner, with their books in their hands, 
and most of them dressed in European clothes.— 
Having just quitted the Marquesas, where we saw 
the very state the Otaheitans were in at the time of 
their first visitors, we of course saw the change to 
great advantage; and the magnitude of it is so astonish¬ 
ing, that all has the appearance of a dream. When, 
however, fully convinced of the reality, the hand of an 
Almighty Providence is distinctly acknowledged.” 
