POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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ships come again from which any of the goods have been 
stolen, take them back, together with a present to the 
captain or the carpenter, expressive of your desire to 
make restitution.” They ail said—Oh, no, we cannot 
take them back ; we have had no peace ever since we heard 
it was displeasing to God, and we shall have no peace 
so long as they remain in our dwellings; we wish you to 
take them, and give them back to the owners whenever 
they come.” Such was the power of conscience, that 
although they were even tools, which the natives value 
more highly than gold, and although Mr. Nott requested 
them to take them back, he could not persuade one of them 
to do so ; they left them all with him, to be returned to 
their owners. They went even farther than this : Some 
had stolen articles from one of the Missionaries at Eimeo. 
They fitted up the canoe, and with the first fair wind 
undertook a voyage of upwards of seventy miles, for the 
purpose of carrying back what they had taken. 
In the island of Raiatea, a native walking on one occa¬ 
sion towards the mountains, discovered a hen's nest with 
a number of eggs in it, at the root of a tree. He eagerly 
seized the prize, put the eggs in the native cloth he wore, 
and proceeded with them to his house. On the way, he 
recollected the commandment—^^ Thou shalt not steal,” 
and though he had found the nest far from any habitation, 
in the midst of the woods, and did not know that he had 
robbed any one except the hen, yet he knew the eggs 
were not his, and so powerful was the impression of the 
impropriety of the action, that he returned to the nest, 
and very carefully replaced the eggs with a light heart. 
A similar course was pursued by a native with whom 
I was once travelling across the island, with regard to a 
pocket-knife that he had picked up, but afterwards threw 
