372 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES* 
countrymen, they appeared highly delighted; and 
towards the evening, when, accompanied by the 
two Tahitians, they drew near the beach in the 
ship’s boat, the inhabitants came out into the sea 
to meet them, and carried the men and the boat 
altogether to the shore. This to the strangers was 
rather an unexpected reception; but, though sin¬ 
gular, it was not unfriendly, for they were treated 
with kindness. The accounts the natives gave 
their countrymen, of what they had seen in Tahiti, 
were marvellous to them : the captain of the cutter 
procured some tons of sandal-wood ; and when he 
left, the Tahitians returned, having received an in¬ 
vitation from the chiefs and people to revisit their 
island, and reside permanently among them; a re¬ 
quest so congenial to their own feelings, that they 
at once promised to comply. 
In the month of January, 1826, two Tahitian 
teachers and their wives, accompanied by two 
others, one a schoolmaster, and the other a me¬ 
chanic, sailed from Tahiti for Rapa. They carried 
with them not only spelling-books, and copies of 
the Tahitian translations of the scriptures, but 
also a variety of useful tools, implements of hus¬ 
bandry, valuable seeds and plants, together with 
timber for a chapel, and doors, &c. for the 
teachers’ houses. They were conducted to their 
new station by Mr. Davies, one of the senior Mis¬ 
sionaries at Tahiti, who was pleased with his visit, 
and, upon the whole, with the disposition of the 
people, although some appeared remarkably super¬ 
stitious, and, as might be expected, unwilling to 
embrace Christianity. This arose from an appre¬ 
hension of the anger of their gods, induced by the 
effects of a most destructive disease, with which 
they had been recently visited. The gods, they 
