PROGRESS OP RELIGION. 143 
whatever political considerations he may have been 
actuated, and whatever may have been the in¬ 
fluence of Christian principles on his own mind, in 
this or subsequent periods of his life, Pomare cer¬ 
tainly was convinced of the excellency of Chris¬ 
tianity, and desirous to introduce it among his 
people, and was employed by the Almighty as 
an instrument most effectually to promote the 
important process, which was at this time chang¬ 
ing altogether the moral and religious aspect 
of the nation. The success that attended his 
endeavours appears from a letter which he ad¬ 
dressed to the Missionaries while in the district 
of Maatea. In this letter, he stated his delight in 
beholding the chiefs inclined to obey the word of 
God ; which, he said, Jehovah himself was causing 
to grow, so that it prospered exceedingly. Thirty- 
four or thirty-six, in one district, had, to use his 
own expression, u laid hold of the word of God.” 
At Maatea, the district from which the king 
wrote, ninety-six renounced idolatry while he was 
there, in addition to others who had done so before. 
The change appeared to be general here. The 
chiefs, priests, and people, publicly committed their 
idols to the flames, and attended public worship. 
The Bure Atua had hitherto escaped the ruin 
intended for them by their enemies; and though 
these were masters of Tahiti, in Eimeo, and 
secretly in Tahiti, the number of those who had 
joined the Christians was greatly increased. 
