e
expedition, removed to the Resolution. By him Mr Gore was appointed
Captain of the Discovery, and the rest of the lieutenants obtained an
addition of rank in their proper order.

CHAPTER FIVE.

SUBSEQUENT HISTORY OF POLYNESIA.

In the concluding pages of this work it is proposed to give a brief
sketch of the progress of Christianity and civilisation in the islands
of the Pacific visited by Captain Cook. [Note 1.]

The accounts brought home by the discoverers of the degraded moral
condition of the islanders, stirred up the hearts of Christians in
England, and when, in 1795, the London Missionary Society was formed,
one of its first proceedings was to send to those distant lands the
Gospel of Christ's salvation.

They began their labours upon an extensive scale. They purchased a
ship, and sent out twenty-five labourers to commence missions
simultaneously at the Marquesan, Tahitian, and Friendly Islands.

The following is the account given of the reception of this band of
Christian evangelists:--

"On March 7, 1797, the first missionaries from the Duff went on shore,
and were met on the beach by the king, Pomare, and his queen. By them
they were kindly welcomed, as well as by Paitia, an aged chief of the
district. They were conducted to a large, oval-shaped native house,
which has been but recently finished for Captain Bligh, whom they
expected to return. Their dwelling was pleasantly situated on the
western side of the river, near the extremity of Point Venus. The
islanders were delighted to behold foreigners coming to take up their
permanent residence among them, as those they had heretofore seen had
been transient visitors.

"The inhabitants of Tahiti, having never seen any European females or
children, were filled with amazement and delight when the wives and
children of the missionaries landed. Several times during the first
days of their residence on shore large parties arrived from different
places, in front of the house, requesting that the white women and
children would come to the door and show themselves. The chiefs and
people were not satisfied with giving them the large and commodious
`Fare Beritani' (British house), as they called the one they had built
for Captain Bligh, but readily and cheerfully ceded to Captain Wilson
and the missionaries, in an official and formal manner, the district of
Matavai, in which their habitation was situated. The king and queen,
with other branches of