252 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
-and liberal education, there is every reason to 
believe the development and culture of his intellect 
-would have shewn that it was of no inferior order. 
He had heard much, from the early visitors to 
his island, of king George, and appeared, on more 
than one occasion, desirous to make the British 
sovereign his model. He was walking one day in 
the district of Pare with great dignity, in the 
company of the Missionaries, when he suddenly 
stopped, and said, ‘‘ Does king George walk in 
this way?” As soon as he in any degree com- 
prehended the use of letters, he manifested a great 
desire to be able to read and write, and was one of 
the first pupils. Looking over the books of the 
Missionaries one day, he saw a Hebrew bible: the 
singularity of the letter attracted his attention ; 
and having been informed that it was the language 
of the Jews, in which the greater part of the 
Scriptures was written, he expressed a wish that 
one of the Missionaries would teach him to read it, 
Inquiring at the same time whether king George 
understood Hebrew. In this he did not persevere, 
but he soon made himself master of the English 
alphabet, and could read in the English bible, 
not with fluency, but so as to comprehend the 
meaning of the plainest parts. 
It was, however, in his native language that the 
Tahitian ruler made the greatest progress, and in 
writing this he excelled every other individual. 
Mr. Nott and Mr. Davies were his principal in- 
structors; the latter has spent many hours with 
him, sitting on the ground, and teaching him to 
form letters on the sand, probably before Dr. Bell’s 
system was introduced to general notice in Eng- 
land. The hand-writing of Pomare, during the 
latter part of his life, was much better than that of 
