28 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Noti, eiaha e haere , Mr. Nott, don't go, was his 
language to that individual; and such was also 
used to others. His evident satisfaction was pro¬ 
portionate, when he perceived that Mr. and Mrs. 
Eyre, and five of the single Missionaries, resolved 
to continue in Tahiti. 
On the 29th of March, those Missionaries who 
intended to leave, bade their companions farewell; 
and, during the night of the 30th, sailed from 
Matavai, and proceeded to New South Wales. It 
is worthy of remark, that this event, so destructive 
to the strength of the mission, crippling the efforts 
of its members, and spreading a cloud over their 
future prospects, resulted not from opposition to 
the efforts of the Missionaries, nor from any dis¬ 
pute between them and the priests or people, on 
subjects connected with the idolatry of the latter, 
but from their benevolent endeavours to serve 
those, whom purposes of commerce had brought 
to their shores, and whom adverse weather had 
reduced to circumstances of distress—a class of 
individuals whom the Missionaries, in those seas, 
have ever been ready to succour, but who, with 
some gratifying exceptions, Lave not always hon¬ 
ourably requited that kindness, to which, in some 
instances, they have owed their own preservation. 
The decision of those who left Tahiti, may to 
some, perhaps, appear premature, but it is not 
easy to form a correct estimate of the dangers to 
which they were exposed. They were well aware 
of many ; but there were others, actually existing, 
of which they were then unconscious. Otu, called 
Pomare since his father's death, has often, during 
the latter years of his life, told Mr. Nott, that after 
the departure of the Duff, frequently, when he 
has been carried on men's shoulders round the 
