POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 537 
actions of the day were seated around and behind the 
king. 
The youthful Pomare^ being only four years of age, 
was necessarily passive in the important business. Mr. 
Davies, one of the senior Missionaries, spoke for him; 
and as all were requested to take a part in the cere¬ 
monies, when the king had been asked if he promised 
to govern the people with justice and mercy, agreeably 
to the laws and the word of God, Mr. Nott placed the 
crown on his head, and pronounced a benediction upon 
the young ruler ; Mr. Darling then presented him with 
a Bible, accompanying the presentation with a suitable 
address. 
As soon as the coronation ceremony was closed, a 
herald proclaimed pardon to all who were under the 
sentence of the law. Every exile was directed to return, 
and all were exhorted to become good members of 
society. The assembly afterwards repaired to the Royal 
Mission Chapel, where Divine service was performed, 
and thus the first Christian coronation in the South Sea 
Islands closed. 
The kings of Tahiti were not formerly invested with 
any regal dignity by receiving a crown, but by being 
girded with the maro lira, or sacred girdle, of which 
ceremony an account has been already given. On that 
occasion they bathed the king in the sea, before girding 
him with the sacred maro. On the present occasion 
they anointed his person with oil; a part of the cere¬ 
mony which, I think, might have been as well dispensed 
with. 
Shortly after his coronation, the young Pomare III. was 
placed at the South Sea Academy, in the island of Eimeo, 
under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Orsmond, for the pur- 
II. 3 z 
