136 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
large sections of Pare, and the adjacent district of 
Matavai, the former residence of their teachers, 
had renounced idolatry, and were desirous to 
receive Christian instruction. 
By the queen, or her sister, the king sent over a 
new book to Aimata, his infant daughter, which 
being considered as an indication of his purpose 
that she should be trained up in the new religion, 
was a source of great encouragement to the con¬ 
verts, and of corresponding dissatisfaction to the 
idolaters, who already began to meditate on the 
means of effecting the destruction of the Chris¬ 
tians: 
It was not in Pare and Matavai alone that the 
professed worshippers of God were to be found. 
Some openly avowed their attachment to the new 
order of things, maintaining, in the midst of the 
heathen around them, daily worship in their fami¬ 
lies, and morning and evening devotion in private ; 
others, for fear of giving offence to their chiefs 
or neighbours, maintained secretly their profession, 
and at the hour of midnight met together, as the 
persecuted Christians in England have often form¬ 
erly done, in the depths of the woods, or the retired 
glens of the valleys, for conference or social prayer. 
The state of affairs in Tahiti was such, as to pre¬ 
vent the queen and her sister from proceeding on 
their intended tour of the island ; but while they 
remained at Pare, a circumstance occurred similar 
to that which had transpired in Eimeo, though 
probably more decisive and important in its imme¬ 
diate result. 
When a present of food and cloth was brought 
to the visitors by some of the chiefs of Tahiti, the 
priests also attended, and, observing the party 
disinclined to acknowledge or render the custo- 
