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Tetahiti nodded. “Did you not feel the god lighten the heavy boulders as we worked?” he asked.

“They were as nothing in our hands. Ta’aroa is well pleased with his dwelling place. Here we can offer prayers for our crops and for fishing, and dedicate the children who will come. Now for the first time my heart tells me that this is indeed my land—our land.”

Minarii was silent for some time before he asked: “You know these white men better than I; have they no god?”

“Christian has never spoken to me of these things and I do not like to ask; but I would say that they worship none.”

“It is strange that they should be godless. Captain Cook came three times to Matavai; I remember his visits well. He and his men were of the same race as these, but they worshiped their god every seventh day, in ceremonies not unlike our own. They bowed their heads; they knelt and listened in silence while one of them chanted. Our white men do none of these things.”

“It must be that they have no god,” Tetahiti replied.