DEATH OF POMARE. 249 
We hastened on board, conducted them to the 
shore, and welcomed them to our dwellings. 
Mr. Bennet took up his abode with Mr. Barff, 
while we were happy to accommodate Mr. Tyer- 
man. Hie chiefs and people, who had been led 
to expect a visit from our friends, greeted their 
arrival with demonstations of joy; these friends 
remained some time in Fare, and the period they 
spent with us was one of unusual interest and 
enjoyment. 
In the close of this year, 1821, the Mission and 
the nation experienced the heaviest bereavement 
that had occurred since the introduction of Chris¬ 
tianity. This was the death of the king, Pomare II. 
which took place on the seventh of December, the 
day preceding the deputation’s arrival in Huahine. 
His health had been for some time declining, but 
his departure at last was sudden. I spent the 
greater part of a Sabbath afternoon with him at 
Eimeo, in the beginning of October. He was 
then unable to leave the house, but was not con¬ 
sidered dangerously ill. I was then for some days 
with him, and had not seen him since. He had 
long been afflicted with the elephantiasis, a dis¬ 
order very prevalent among the people ; but the 
principal cause of his dissolution was a dropsical 
complaint, to which he had been for some time 
subject. 
The conspicuous station Pomare had occupied in 
the political changes of Tahiti, since the arrival of 
the Missionaries, the prominent part he had taken 
in the abolition of idolatry, the zeal he had mani¬ 
fested in the establishment of Christianity, and 
the assistance he had rendered to the Missionaries, 
caused a considerable sensation to be experienced 
among all classes by his death; and as his name 
