40 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Sea whaler. Mr. Henry was the only one of the 
number who had left, that resumed his labours in 
Tahiti. By him they also unexpectedly received 
the pleasing intelligence of the Duff s second des¬ 
tination to Tahiti, and were led to hope, on 
her arrival, a reinforcement of labourers, and the 
various supplies of which they stood so much in 
need. Having repaired the vessel and recruited 
his stores, the captain sailed from Tahiti on the 
14th of January, leaving on the island three of 
his seamen, whose influence among the inha- V. 
bitants in general was soon found to be most 
unfavourable. 
Hitherto, the public worship of God had been 
performed in one of the apartments of the Mission- 
house, but as it appeared expedient to erect a 
place for this specific object, to which also the 
natives might have access for the purpose of reli¬ 
gious instruction, a spot was selected near the 
grave of Mr. Lewis ; and on the 5th of March 
1797, with the assistance of a number of Pomare’s 
men, they commenced the erection of their chapeh 
The chiefs procured most of the materials, and 
when it was nearly finished, Pomare sent a fish 
as an offering to Jesus Christ, requesting that it 
might be hung up in their new chapel. This was 
the first building ever erected on the South Sea 
Islands, for the worship of the living God. But 
although the Missionaries were cheered with the 
hope of often beholding it filled with attentive 
hearers or Christian worshippers, they were obliged 
to pull it down early in the year 1802, to prevent 
its affording shelter to their enemies, or being set on 
fire by the rebels, by which their own dwelling 
might have been destroyed. 
The pleasing anticipations which the Mission- 
