70 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
Towards the middle of the year 1804, the king 
went over to Eimeo, taking with him the great idol 
Oro, to propitiate whom, so many of the inha- 
bitants had been sacrificed. About the same 
time, Mr. Caw, a shipwright from England, joined 
the mission. Otu now assumed the name of Po- 
mare, which has ever since been the regal name in 
Tahiti. Its assumption by his father was, as many 
names are among the Tahitians, perfectly acci- 
dental. He was travelling, with a number of his 
followers, in a mountainous part of Tahiti, where 
it was necessary to spend the night in a temporary 
encampment. ‘The chiefs’ tent was pitched in an 
exposed situation; a heavy dew fell among the 
mountains; he took cold, and the next morning 
was affected with a cough; this led some of his 
companions to designate the preceding night by 
the appellation of po-mare, night of cough, from po, 
night, and mare, cough. ‘The chief was pleased | 
with the sound of the words thus associated, adopt- 
ed them as his name, and was ever afterwards 
called Po-ma-re. With the name he also associated 
the title of majesty, styling himself, and receiving 
the appellation of, ‘‘ His Majesty Pomare.” 
Peace continued during the remainder of the 
year, and the Missionaries were enabled to per- 
severe in their labours, although they were cheer- 
less, and apparently useless. Great attention had, 
during the last year, been paid to the instruction 
of the children in the short catechism, in which 
the first principles of Christianity were familiarly 
exhibited to the minds of the young people. 
Mr. Davies, in particular, had devoted much of 
his time to this work; and although it had 
hitherto been found impracticable to teach the 
children letters, a number had committed the 
