The following year, 1831, spent at my own station, was one of distress and anxiety; but as the details would fill a volume, I must content myself with a bare notice of the leading events of that period. Fenuapeho, the chief of the neighbouring island, having been lost at sea, the government devolved upon Tapoa, the grandson of a terrible warrior of that name, an inveterate enemy of Christianity; the circumstances of whose death, which occurred at a critical period, I have narrated at page 71. On his attaining the sovereignty, the exiles from all the islands, together with the disaffected, and a few restless-spirited old warriors, rallied round this young chief, intoxicated him with ideas of his greatness, and represented to him that, by a desperate effort, he might depose the reigning family, make himself chief of all the Leeward Islands, and be as renowned as his grandfather. Every effort was made that kindness could suggest, or ingenuity devise, to induce him and his followers to desist from their obstinate and ruinous course, but in vain; and a collision between the parties appeared inevitable. The anxiety and agitation occasioned by these distressing circumstances so preyed upon the mind of our chief, Tamatoa, who was already enfeebled by age, that they accelerated his death.

There were some circumstances in the life of this celebrated chieftain which, although a digression, may be introduced here with propriety.