WELCOME BY THE MISSIONARIES. 291 
Wilson, Henry, and Davies, came on board, fol¬ 
lowed by the other members of the Mission, who 
greeted our arrival with satisfaction. We accom¬ 
panied them to the shore, and landed on the 
western side of the bay, in the afternoon of the 
13th of February, 1817, happy, under circum¬ 
stances of health and comfort, to enter upon our 
field of future labour, and grateful for the mer¬ 
ciful providence by which we had been con¬ 
ducted in safety to the end of our long and event¬ 
ful voyage. 
On reaching the habitations of the Missionaries, 
we were cordially welcomed to their society, and 
were rejoiced to behold them cheered by the intel¬ 
ligence we had brought, and the prospect of 
receiving a still greater accession to their numbers. 
The evening passed pleasantly and rapidly away ; 
many of the pious inhabitants and chiefs, in the 
neighbourhood, came to greet our arrival, with 
evident emotions of delight; among them was 
one, whose salutation I shall never forget: “la 
ora na oe i te Atua , la ora oe i te haere raa 
mai io nei , no te Aroha o te Atua oe i tae mat ax; 
“ Blessing on you from God, peace to you in 
coming here, on account of the love of God are 
you come.” These were his words. His person 
was tall and commanding, his hair black and 
curling, his eyes benignant, and his whole coun¬ 
tenance beamed with a joy that declared his 
tongue only obeyed the dictates of his heart. 
His name was Auna, a native of Raiatea, formerly 
an Areoi and a warrior, who had arrived, with 
numbers of his countrymen, to the support of 
Pomare, after his expulsion from Tahiti, but whose 
heart had been changed by the power of the 
gospel of Christ. He was afterwards associated 
