In order that the ceremonies, observed on this occasion, might be performed in the presence of the inhabitants, the greater part of whom were expected to attend, a stone platform was raised, nearly sixty feet square, upon which another smaller platform was erected, where the coronation was to take place.

When the order of the procession was arranged, it advanced towards the place, preceded by two native girls, who strewed the path with flowers. Mahine, the chief of Huahine, and nominally one of the judges of Tahiti, carried a large Bible, and was attended by the deputation from the Missionary Society, who were then at Tahiti, and Messrs. Nott and Henry; the rest of the Missionaries followed. Then came the supreme judges, three abreast; Utami, the chief of Atehuru, bearing a copy of the Tahitian code of laws. Three other judges followed; and Tati, the chief of Papara, walking in the centre, carried the crown. The young king, seated on a chair, was next borne in the procession, by four young chieftains, an equal number of chiefs' sons supporting the canopy over his head; his mother and his sister walking on one side, and his aunts on the other. His brother-in-law walked immediately behind, and was followed by Tamatoa, the king of Raiatea, and the members of the royal family. The governors, judges of districts, and magistrates, walking four abreast, closed the procession.

When they reached the place of coronation, the wives, children, and friends of the Missionaries, who had also walked in the procession, sat on the platform. The king was seated in his chair; in the centre before him, on small tables, the crown, the Bible, and the code of laws, were placed. Those who were to take part in the trans

actions of the day were seated around and behind the king.

The youthful Pomare, being only four years of age, was necessarily passive in the important business. Mr. Davies, one of the senior Missionaries, spoke for him; and as all were requested to take a part in the ceremonies, when the king had been asked if he promised to govern the people with justice and mercy, agreeably to the laws and the word of God, Mr. Nott placed the crown on his head, and pronounced a benediction upon the young ruler; Mr. Darling then presented him with a Bible, accompanying the presentation with a suitable address.

As soon as the coronation ceremony was closed, a herald proclaimed pardon to all who were under the sentence of the law. Every exile was directed to return, and all were exhorted to become good members of society. The assembly afterwards repaired to the Royal Mission Chapel, where Divine service was performed, and thus the first Christian coronation in the South Sea Islands closed.

The kings of Tahiti were not formerly invested with any regal dignity by receiving a crown, but by being girded with the maro ura, or sacred girdle, of which ceremony an account has been already given. On that occasion they bathed the king in the sea, before girding him with the sacred maro. On the present occasion they anointed his person with oil; a part of the ceremony which, I think, might have been as well dispensed with.

Shortly after his coronation, the young Pomare III. was placed at the South Sea Academy, in the island of Eimeo, under the care of Mr. and Mrs. Orsmond, for the pur

pose of receiving, with the children of the Missionaries, a systematic English education. His disposition was affectionate, his progress encouraging, and he promised fair to gain a correct acquaintance with the English language, which, had he lived, by giving him the key to all the stores of knowledge contained in it, would have conferred on him a most commanding influence among the people, over whom the providence of God had made him king. So far as his faculties were developed, they were not inferior to those of European children at the same age, but he was soon removed by death.

Being attacked with a complaint that passed through the islands about the middle of December, 1826, he was immediately conveyed to his mother's residence in Pare, where he lingered till the eleventh of January, 1827, when he died in Mr. Orsmond's arms. His mother and other friends standing by, when they saw him actually in the agonies of death, were so affected that they could not bear to look upon his struggles, but cast a cloth over Mr. Orsmond and the dying child he held in his arms; they removed it in a few minutes, and found his spirit had fled.

He was Pomare's only son, and the sole child of his surviving widow. A daughter of Pomare II. by a second wife, whose name is Aimata, and who is about sixteen years of age, being his only surviving child, has succeeded to the government: she was married some years ago to a young chief of Tahaa, to whom her father had given his own name, so that Pomare is still the regal name. character, perhaps, is yet scarcely formed, but the Missionaries speak very favourably of her principles and conduct, and hope she will prove a blessing to the nation, and a nursing-mother to the cause of Christianity.

Her

Although Pomare II. was the first pupil whom the Missionaries taught to write, and although he excelled all others; his example induced many to make an attempt, while his success encouraged them to proceed; and now it is probable that as great a proportion of the population of the Georgian and Society Islands can write, as would be found capable of doing so in many portions of the United Kingdom. Some progress had been made, by several of the most intelligent of the converts, before the abolition of idolatry in 1815, but it is only since that period that writing has become general.

Various methods of instruction have been adopted: some of the natives have been taught altogether by writing on the sea-beach, or on sand in the schools; others have learned to write on the broad smooth leaves of the plantain-tree, using a rather bluntly pointed stick, instead of a pen or pencil. The delicate fibres of the leaf being bruised by the pen, become brown, while the other parts remain fresh and green. If it was necessary to read it immediately after being written, when held up to the light, the letters were easily distinguished. These plantain-leaf letters answer very well for short notes to pass among the natives themselves, but are liable to injury if conveyed to any great distance, or kept any length of time. They are always rolled up like a sheet of parchment, and have a remarkably rustic appearance, being usually fastened with a piece of bark, tied round the roll, the length of which being formed by the breadth of the leaf, is about twelve or fifteen inches. I have often seen the chief's messenger hastening along the road with two or three plantain-leaf rolls under his arm, or in his hand, which were the despatches of which he was the bearer.

Some of the chiefs learned to write on a slate, but these have always been articles too scarce and valuable to be in common use; they were very highly prized, and preserved with the greatest care. The greatest favour a chief could shew his son, has sometimes been to allow him to practise on his slate. We have often regretted that the supply was not more abundant, and though several hundreds of the thick slates, without frames, such as are used in the national schools, have been sent out by the Society, and others by the liberality of friends, they have not been sufficient to supply the different schools; so that many of the natives, who desire to possess them as their own, are still destitute. Framed slates are sometimes taken by traders, as articles of barter; but they are so liable to break, that the people greatly prefer the kind above alluded to.

A copy-book has never been used for the purpose of learning to write; paper has always been too scarce and valuable amongst them, to admit of such an appropriation. And a copy-book, although highly prized, is used rather as a journal, common-place-book, or depository of something more valuable than mere copies. Writing paper is still a very valuable article, and would prove one of the most acceptable presents that could be sent them.

I have often been amused on beholding a native, who had several letters to write, sitting down to look over his paper, and finding perhaps that he possessed but one sheet, has been obliged to cut it into three, four, or five pieces, and regulate the size of his letter, not by the quantity of information he had to communicate, but by the size of the paper he had to fill. I have recently received upwards of twenty letters from the natives, some of