108 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
in the door thus effectually opened for the preach¬ 
ing of the gospel. Puru and his adherents had 
not been much with the Missionaries. The people 
of Huahine and their chief were certainly among 
the most superstitious and idolatrous tribes of the 
Pacific. Pomare, and not the Missionary, had 
on this occasion been employed as the agent, 
under God, in influencing the mind of the young 
chief, who was likely to become the king of Hua¬ 
hine and Eimeo, and in a way which at once de¬ 
monstrated that it was the purpose of God that he 
he should be made acquainted with divine truth. 
Hence he was induced to prohibit an acknowledg¬ 
ment to the gods of his ancestors, and to invite 
the teachers of Christianity to his camp, to speak 
unto him and his adherents words whereby they 
might be saved. While the Missionaries admired 
the means by which God had thus shewn them 
that the work was His, and not theirs, and thus 
deprived them of attributing any thing to their own 
influence, they rejoiced in the opportunity now 
afforded of proclaiming the glad tidings of mercy 
from the most High. Mr. Nott conversed a long 
time with them, and preached an instructive and 
affecting discourse from Isa. xlix. 6,7. I have often 
heard the young man’s mother-in-law, and other 
members of the household, speak of this discourse 
as having deeply impressed their minds. When 
Mr. Nott left them, he invited the chief and his 
adherents to visit the station on the Sabbath, 
and cultivate an intercourse with other Christian 
chiefs. 
On the following Sabbath, Taaroarii attended; 
his father also became, a few months afterwards, a 
sincere convert. They accompanied us to Hua¬ 
hine in 1818. Taaroarii died rather suddenly 
