240 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
to the eastward ; to work her with native seamen ; 
to take the pearls, and mother-of-pearl shell, to 
Port Jackson; bringing from that settlement tools, 
cutlery, and manufactured goods for the natives, 
and supplies for the Mission ; thus providing a 
means of stimulating the people to habits of indus¬ 
try, and defraying to a certain degree the expenses 
of the Mission. Such were the views with which 
the vessel was commenced ; but circumstances had 
arisen since that time, which left but little hope 
that these ends would ever be answered. The 
work was, however, already so far advanced, that 
all parties were unwilling to abandon it. 
The vessel was about seventy tons burden, and 
the hull nearly completed. The Missionaries who 
had arrived undertook to finish what their pre¬ 
decessors had commenced ; and although it was 
an undertaking of great labour, it was ready to be 
launched in a few weeks after they had landed. 
The 7th of December, 1817, being the day 
fixed for the launch, crowds of the inhabitants 
assembled to witness the spectacle: when the 
preparations were completed, the wedges were 
removed; but as the vessel did not move, strong 
ropes were passed round her stern, and a number 
of the islanders on each side began pulling her 
towards the water. Pomare was present, and 
exerted all his influence to stimulate the natives 
employed in launching the ship. One of the 
king’s orators, a short, plump, round-faced man, 
about fifty years of age, was perched upon a pro¬ 
jecting rock by the sea-side, vociferating one o^ 
their ude , or songs, on the launching of their own 
large canoes, suiting the action to the word, and 
using at times the most violent gesticulations, as if 
he imagined his own muscular powers alone were 
