ey were led by the people to
the morai and given up to the gods; but their lives were spared and they
were left at liberty. Wars broke out in the island, and all their
property was stolen; but they persevered in preaching the Gospel, and,
by degrees, gained converts. The king, Tamatoa, became a Christian; but
his old grandfather refused to give up his gods. While holding a high
festival in their honour, a beloved daughter was taken ill. In vain he
besought his gods to restore her to health; she died. In his rage, he
ordered his son to set fire to his morai, and to destroy it with his
idols; two others caught fire near it, and the son was proceeding to
burn others, when the people dragged him away, expecting to see him
struck down by the vengeance of the outraged gods. As no evil
consequences followed, the idolaters began to call in question the power
of their deities.

Shortly after a vessel arrived from Raiatea, bringing another
missionary, with many books, and several pigs and goats, which Papeiha
and his companion had promised the people. This raised the missionaries
in their estimation, and they with one accord threw away all their
idols, and resolved to listen to the teaching of the Gospel. On his
return from Sydney, Mr Williams, calling at Aitutaki, found that all
the inhabitants had nominally embraced Christianity, while a chapel, two
hundred feet long, had been built for the worship of the true God. They
have now the entire Scriptures in their own language, and their desire
after and reverence for the Word of God are very remarkable.

The description given of the inhabitants of Aitutaki applies equally to
numerous other islands of the Pacific, which have been for some time
under missionary instruction, provided there are no ports where the
crews of foreign vessels remain any length of time, and set a bad
example to the surrounding population.

Rarotonga, one of the Hervey group, about seven hundred miles south of
Tahiti, and discovered by Williams, in 1823, when the people were in the
most savage condition, is now the chief missionary station in the
Pacific. In 1839 a missionary college was established, the buildings
consisting of a number of separate neat stone cottages, in which the
married students and their wives could reside, a lecture-room, and a
room for female classes. Up to 1844 thirty-three native missionaries,
male and female, had received instruction, and six of the young men had
gone f