102 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
they had lodged, the good tidings were commu¬ 
nicated ; the individual was sought out; and they 
were cheered with the simple yet affecting account 
lie gave of what God had done for his own soul, 
and of the serious impressions then operating on the 
minds of several of his countrymen. 
His name was then Oito , though it is now 
Petero ; he had formerly been an inmate of the 
Mission family at Matavai, and had received 
instructions there. He had occasionally been with 
the king since his return to Tahiti, and some 
remarks from Pomare had awakened convictions 
of sin in his conscience. Anxious to obtain 
direction and relief, yet having no one to whom 
he could unburden his mind with hopes of suitable 
guidance, he applied to Tuahine, who had for a 
long time lived with the Missionaries ; hence Oito 
inferred he would be able to direct him aright. 
Tuahine has since rendered the most important 
services to the Mission, by aiding Mr. Nott in 
the translations. When the Gospel by John, and 
the Acts of the Apostles, were finished, and 
Mr. Nott left Huahine, in July 1819, he removed to 
Raiatea, his native island, where he has since been 
not only a useful member of society, and an orna¬ 
ment to the religion he professes, but an officer in 
the Christian church in Raiatea. 
Tuahine’s mind, on the subject of the Christian 
religion, was at this period in a state resembling that 
ofOito’s. Their conversation deepened their impres¬ 
sions ; they frequently met afterwards for this pur¬ 
pose, and often retired to the privacy of the seques¬ 
tered valleys or verdant shrubberies adjacent to 
their dwellings, for conversation and prayer. The 
singularity of their conduct, together with the report 
of the change in the sentiments of the king, soon 
