558 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
sity of feeling, to the guidance and the keeping of the 
God of all our mercies, the whole congregation walked 
from the chapel to the sea-shore, where we exchanged 
our last salutations; the deputation, the two native Mis¬ 
sionaries and their wives, five other natives and myself, 
now embarked, and the Mermaid stood out to sea. 
The weather was on the whole pleasant, and we reached 
the Sandwich Islands in about a month after our depar¬ 
ture from Huahine. 
While supping at our table, on the night previous to 
our embarkation, the captain had, in answer to Mrs. 
Ellis’s inquiries, assured her that he expected to return 
in three months ; but seven months passed without any 
appearance of our vessel. In the mean time, a pirati¬ 
cal ship touched at Huahine ; some of the pirates ab¬ 
sconded, and remained on shore. It was found that 
they knew something of our vessels; but as they refused 
to say what they knew, surmises arose, and reports 
were circulated that they had met us at sea, and either 
sunk our vessel or murdered the passengers. Such was 
the influence of this report when first circulated, that it 
was necessary to protect the deserters from the indigna¬ 
tion of the populace. The whole of their statements 
was invested with a degree of mystery, which, together 
with the very protracted period of our absence, aug¬ 
mented the distress of Mrs. Ellis and our friends in 
Huahine. From this painful state of anxious uncer¬ 
tainty, they were however relieved by the appearance of 
the Mermaid off Fare harbour early in the month of 
October, and by our landing in health and safety in the 
evening of the same day. The pirates had fallen in with 
the schooner, which had been separated from us during 
the early part of the voyage; they by this means 
