st
visit. Tootaha was killed in one of these, and when Cook again arrived,
in 1773, Pomare was king, though Cook only knew him by his title of Otou,
which he apparently still retained, though there was no regent.

In 1789 Captain Bligh called at Tahiti in the Bounty, to export young
bread-fruit trees to the West Indies. The delights of Tahiti probably had
their part in bringing about the well-known mutiny a few days after the
ship left; and on the return of the Bounty with her crew of mutineers,
sixteen of them remained on the island. These men took a leading part in
the continual dissensions in the island, until, in 1791, they were
carried off by the Pandora, sent with the object of capturing the
mutineers.

English missionaries came to Tahiti in 1797; but after twelve years'
residence, during which they made no progress, and were constantly in
danger from the frequent wars, they retreated to Sydney, in New South
Wales, leaving two only of their number in Huahine and Eimeo, two of the
Society Islands. Two years later, on the invitation of Pomare II, who
was, however, then expelled from Tahiti and living in Eimeo, some of them
returned, and Pomare became the first convert. Christianity rapidly
spread, and in 1815, Pomare having returned to Tahiti, he and his
Christian followers were attacked. The battle ended in the complete
victory of Pomare, and for the first time in the sanguinary history of
the island no butchery of the vanquished followed, nor any devastation of
the country. The principal idols were destroyed; and whether in
consequence of the surprise the natives felt at finding that no
retribution followed this sacrilege, or from gratitude at the clemency of
the victors, opposition to the new religion ceased, the whole island soon
became Christian, and the customs of the inhabitants were much changed.
In 1827 the British Government declined to accede to a request to throw
its protectorate over Tahiti.

In 1836 two French priests came to the island with the avowed intention
of proselytising. They were expelled; and after several visits of French
men-of-war, who came to obtain redress for this act, and an assurance of
free entrance for French subjects, the island was taken possession of by
a French squadron in 1843, and Queen Pomare, daughter of Pomare II, was
de facto deposed. The island has been ever since under the dominion of
France. Tahiti is now in a flourishing condition, and exports a
considerable quanti