DISAFFECTION TO THE MISSION. 65 
were occasioned by the incantations of Metia, a 
priest of Oro, a famous wrestler and. sorcerer, 
whose influence, ceremonies, and prayers, had 
induced the evil spirits to enter into the young 
prince, and destroy him. Counter-ceremonies 
were performed; prayers, called faatere, were 
offered, to drive the evil spirits from him, and 
these, it was imagined, would all be unavailing, 
should the Europeans direct his mind to any other 
source, or offer on his behalf prayers to any other 
god, and hence in part might have proceeded the 
aversion of his friends to the presence and efforts 
of the Missionaries. 
Another large meeting of chiefs, priests, and 
warriors, was held during the summer of 1803 at 
Atehuru, and rumours of war were again spread 
through the land. Here Otu once more de- 
manded the body or image of the great god Oro, 
which the chiefs agreed ultimately to give up to 
the custody of the king, but which they were not 
so ready at once to surrender. 
The state of the people was at this time most 
affecting. Diseases, introduced by Europeans, 
were spreading, unmitigated, their destructive ra- 
vages, and some members of almost every family 
were languishing under the influence of foreign 
maladies, or dying in the midst of their days. 
The survivors, jealous of the Missionaries, viewed 
them as the murderers of their countrymen, under 
the supposition that these multiplied evils were 
brought upon them by the influence of the foreign- 
ers with their God. They did not scruple to tell 
them that He was killing the people; but that 
by and by, when Oro gained the ascendency, they 
should feel the effects of his vengeance. In addi- 
tion to the diseases resulting from their immora- 
II. F 
