266 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
At sunrise we held a prayer-meeting in the 
English language. The natives held one among 
themselves at the same hour. The forenoon was 
appropriated to worship, in English ; at which time 
a sermon was preached by Mr. Henry, one of the 
senior Missionaries; and in the afternoon the ser¬ 
vices were entirely in the native language. 
The chiefs and people assembled from most of 
the districts of Eimeo, and a number of strangers 
from Tahiti, residing at Papetoai, were also present. 
The extension of the Redeemer’s kingdom had 
been the topic of discourses in the native congre¬ 
gation on the preceding Sabbath, and had in some 
degree prepared the minds of the people for enter¬ 
ing more fully into the subject. The public ser¬ 
vices on this occasion were to commence at three 
o’clock in the afternoon ; but long before the ap¬ 
pointed hour, the chapel was crowded, and a far 
greater number than had gained admission, still 
remained on the outside. 
Three or four hundred yards distant from the cha¬ 
pel, there was a beautiful and extensive grove. To 
this spot it was proposed to adjourn, and thither the 
natives immediately repaired, seating themselves 
on the ground under the cocoa-nut trees. At three 
o’clock we walked to the grove, and on entering 
it beheld one of the most imposing and de¬ 
lightful spectacles I think I ever witnessed in the 
islands. The sky was clear, the smooth surface of 
the ocean rippled with the cool and stirring breeze. 
The grove, stately and rich in all the luxuriance of 
tropical verdure, extended from the beach to the 
very base of the mountains, whose gradual ascent, 
and rocky projections, led to the interior. The 
long-winged and interwoven leaves of the trees 
formed a spreading canopy, through which a strag- 
