FRIENDSHIP TO CAPTAIN WILSON. 9 
arrived, Pomare was asked, when the Missionaries 
were introduced to him, if they were still to con¬ 
sider the district as theirs ; and though he replied in 
the affirmative, and even asked if they wished the 
inhabitants to remove, it afterwards appeared that 
the natives considered them only as tenants at 
will. All that the settlers ever desired was, the 
permanent occupation of the ground on which 
their dwellings and gardens were situated ; yet, in 
writing to the Society, in 1804, they remark, in 
reference to the district, “ The inhabitants do not 
consider the district, nor any part of it, as belong¬ 
ing to us, except the small sandy spot we occupy 
with our dwellings and gardens ; and even as to 
that, there are persons who claim the ground as 
theirs.” Whatever advantages the king or chiefs 
might expect to derive from this settlement on the 
island, they were not influenced by any desire to 
receive general or religious instruction. This was 
evident, from a speech once made by Haamane- 
mane, who said that they gave the people plenty of 
the parau (word) talk and prayer, but very few 
knives, axes, scissors, or cloth. These, however, 
were soon afterwards amply supplied. A wish to 
possess such property, and to receive the assistance 
of the Europeans in the exercise of the mechanic 
arts, or in their wars, was probably the motive by 
which the natives were most strongly influenced. 
Captain Wilson was, however, happy to find the 
king, chiefs, and people, so willing to receive the 
Missionaries, and so friendly towards them; and the 
latter being now settled with seeming comfort in 
their new sphere of labour, the Duff sailed for the 
Friendly Islands on the 26th of March. 
Having landed ten Missionaries at Tongatabu, in 
the Friendly Islands, Captain Wilson visited and 
