78 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
have you brought them to me for ? I do not want 
them.” (The sentiment had often been circulated, 
that the receiver of stolen goods was as bad as the 
thief.) “ You had better take them home, and, 
if you have stolen any from your own countrymen, 
return them ; and when the ships come again from 
which any of the goods have been stolen, take 
them back, together with a present to the captain 
or the carpenter, expressive of your desire to make 
restitution.” They all said—“ Oh, no, we cannot 
take them back; we have had no peace ever since 
we heard it was displeasing to God, and we shall 
have no peace so long as they remain in our 
dwellings; we wish you to take them, and give 
them back to the owners whenever they come.” 
Such was the power of conscience, that although 
they were even tools, which the natives value more 
highly than gold, and although Mr. Nott requested 
them to take them back, he could not persuade 
one of them to do so; they left them all with him, 
to be returned to their owners. They went even 
farther than this : some had stolen articles from 
one of the Missionaries at Eimeo. They fitted up 
a canoe, and with the first fair wind undertook a 
voyage upwards of seventy miles, for the purpose 
of carrying back what they had taken. 
In the island of Raiatea, a native, walking on 
one occasion towards the mountain, discovered a 
hen’s nest, with a number of eggs in it, at the root 
of a tree. He eagerly seized the prize, put the 
eggs in the native cloth he wore, and proceeded 
with them to his house. On the way, he recol¬ 
lected the commandment—“ Thou shalt not steal,” 
and though he had found the nest far from any 
habitation, in the midst of the woods, and did not 
know that he had robbed any one except the hen, 
