300 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
as ambassadors from the tribes to which they be¬ 
longed, requesting that books and teachers might 
be sent to their native land; and chiefs and 
kings have also at these periods publicly, with 
gratitude to the true God, returned the native 
churches their acknowledgments for sending them 
instructors. 
At the Missionary anniversary held at Raiatea, 
in 1828, the king of Rarotoa, an island seven 
hundred miles distant, and containing six or seven 
thousand people, stood up, and, in his native 
dialect, thanked the Raiatean Christians for send¬ 
ing the gospel to his island, and delivering him 
and his people from the bondage of idolatry, and 
sin, and death. 
The native churches are daily extending the 
range of their benevolent operations ; their vessels 
penetrate where no ships ever went before, and 
their Missionaries land where no foreigner has 
dared to set his foot on shore. Yet, wherever 
they have been, the merchant or the sailor may 
now safely follow, and he will meet with hospitality 
and kindness. The following account will appro¬ 
priately illustrate this remark. 
On his passage from Tahiti to New South Wales, 
in 1825, in the brig Brutus, Mr. Nott touched at 
Aitutake, (the Whylootakie of Cook.) Native 
teachers had been there above three years. The 
inhabitants were Christians. The passengers 
landed ; and when the natives found a Missionary 
among them, they requested he would preach to 
them, and about 1000 soon assembled. The is*- 
landers shewed their visitors every possible kind¬ 
ness, accompanied them to the ship when they 
embarked, and carried a number of supplies as 
a present to the captain. After stating these 
