388 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
In 1829, when they were visited, although the 
industry of the inhabitants, and their advancement 
in civilization, were cheering, their progress in learn¬ 
ing was but small, and the ignorance or stupidity 
of the children discouraging. Less attention was 
paid to the teachers than formerly, and consider¬ 
able disorder prevailed among the people, from the 
Opposition of some to the laws transmitted by the 
king from Tahiti, and the want of promptitude and 
decision in those natives who were invested with au¬ 
thority. At a meeting of the people, which was held 
by the appointment of the principal chiefs, while 
Messrs. Pritchard and Simpson remained on the 
island, it was resolved, that two criminals, one 
guilty of murder, having shot one of the magis¬ 
trates, and another of treason, having devised a 
plot against the government, and meditated the 
death of the Tahitian teachers, should be banished 
for life to an uninhabited island ;* and that others, 
less culpable, should be kept in irons during the 
pleasure of the chiefs. Measures were also pro¬ 
posed, which were adapted to induce a better state 
of things among all classes of the inhabitants. 
Rimatara. 
This island lies nearly three degrees westward of 
Tubuai, and some miles nearer the equator. It 
is about twenty miles in circumference; and 
though higher than any of the islands of coral for¬ 
mation, its hills present but a small elevation. The 
soil is fertile, and the lowland, surrounded by a 
natural safeguard or reef, is generally attached to 
the shore. There is no harbour, nor any opening 
in the reefs, excepting for a boat. The hills are 
clothed with the trees and shrubs common to the 
* Miss. Trans, vol. iy. No. vi. p. 163. 
