306 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
ants of one district, the population agreed to re¬ 
nounce heathenism. 
Moorea was subsequently charged with having 
deceived his countrymen in the accounts he had 
given of the change at Tahiti, and was obliged to 
leave the island, as his life was threatened. The 
idolaters, convinced afterwards that they had 
accused him falsely, burnt their idols, and demo¬ 
lished their temples. About four hundred of them 
then sailed to Tahiti, for books and instruction. They 
obtained a supply of books, and became the pupils 
of Mr. Crook, who had the satisfaction of admitting 
several of them to fellowship with the Christians under 
his care. Early in 1822, Moorea and Teraa were 
publicly designated, by the members of the church 
in Wilkes’ Harbour, as Christian teachers, and sailed 
for Anaa. Shortly afterwards, a canoe from this 
island, which is situated in 17. S.lat. 145. W. long, 
arrived at Tahiti. These dauntless sailors, who, in 
order to procure books, had traversed, in their 
rudely built vessels, a distance of three hundred 
miles, brought the pleasing tidings, that the inha¬ 
bitants of Anaa were willing to receive Christianity, 
were building a place of worship in every district, 
that war, cannibalism, and other atrocities of ido¬ 
latry, had ceased. Two other teachers, Manao and 
Mareuu, were afterwards sent to these islands. 
Anaa, when visited by Mr. Crook, in January, 
1825, presented a scene of ruin and desolation, 
occasioned by a violent tempest, which had been 
accompanied by an impetuous inundation of the 
sea. Hundreds of large trees, torn up by the 
roots, lay strewn in wild confusion on the shore: 
a number of dwellings, and fourteen places 
of worship, were levelled to the ground. The 
calamity had been as sudden as it was severe : the 
