RAIVAVAI. 
377 
kneeled down, and uttered a short prayer.” In 
reference to their, deportment, Capt. Henry ob¬ 
serves, “ The very quiet, devout, and orderly man¬ 
ner in which they conducted themselves, not only 
in church, but during the Sabbath, excited my 
highest admiration.” 
The open renunciation of idolatry, and the 
general profession of Christianity, were effected at 
a public festival, which occurred about four months 
prior to Capt. Henry’s visit. All the inhabitants, 
with the exception of about twenty-five persons, 
had declared themselves desirous of Christian in¬ 
struction, and every one in the island had renounced 
idolatry. Most of their former objects of worship 
were removed from the temples, and some of those 
mutilated stone figures were actually converted 
into seats or benches, at the doors of the building 
erected for Christian worship. The knowledge of 
the individual left by Pomare was very limited; 
his behaviour, also, was immoral; and the natives 
had sagacity enough to perceive that his conduct 
did not accord with what he taught them Chris¬ 
tianity required; consequently, they refused to 
pay much attention to his instructions, but re¬ 
quested that proper teachers might be sent to them. 
In 1822, suitable teachers from Eimeo were sta¬ 
tioned in this island; these have shewn the utmost 
diligence and fidelity in promoting the temporal 
and spiritual improvement of the people. In Jan. 
1825, when visited by Messrs. Tyerman Bennet, 
and Henry, two large places had been erected for 
public worship ; at the opening of one of them, 
1300 persons were present.* At the same time, 
baptism was administered to fifty-two adults, and 
* Missionary Chronicle, No. 54, p. 165. 
