Away
to an illicit vendor of spirits, in whose house the party got
gloriously mellow. In this state, Pomaree Vahinee I. was the topic
upon which all dilated - "A vixen of a queen," probably suggested one.
"It's infamous," said another; "and I'd have satisfaction," cried a
third. "And so I will!" - Tanee must have hiccoughed; for off he went;
and ascertaining that his royal half was out riding, he mounted his
horse and galloped after her.
Near the outskirts of the town, a cavalcade of women came cantering
toward him, in the centre of which was the object of his fury.
Smiting his beast right and left, he dashed in among them, completely
overturning one of the party, leaving her on the field, and
dispersing everybody else except Pomaree. Backing her horse
dexterously, the incensed queen heaped upon him every scandalous
epithet she could think of; until at last the enraged Tanee leaped
out of his saddle, caught Pomaree by her dress, and dragging her to
the earth struck her repeatedly in the face, holding on meanwhile by
the hair of her head. He was proceeding to strangle her on the spot,
when the cries of the frightened attendants brought a crowd of natives
to the rescue, who bore the nearly insensible queen away.
But his frantic rage was not yet sated. He ran to the palace; and
before it could be prevented, demolished a valuable supply of
crockery, a recent present from abroad. In the act of perpetrating
some other atrocity, he was seized from behind, and carried off with
rolling eyes and foaming at the mouth.
This is a fair example of a Tahitian in a passion. Though the mildest
of mortals in general, and hard to be roused, when once fairly up, he
is possessed with a thousand devils.
The day following, Tanee was privately paddled over to Imeeo in a
canoe; where, after remaining in banishment for a couple of weeks, he
was allowed to return, and once more give in his domestic adhesion.
Though Pomaree Vahinee I. be something of a Jezebel in private life,
in her public rule she is said to have been quite lenient and
forbearing. This was her true policy; for an hereditary hostility to
her family had always lurked in the hearts of many powerful chiefs,
the descendants of the old Kings of Taiarboo, dethroned by her
grandfather Otoo. Chief among these, and in fact the leader of his
party, was Poofai; a bold, able man, who made no secret of his enmity
to the missionaries, and the government which they controlled. But
while events were occurring calculated to favour the hopes of the
disaffected and turbulent, the arrival of the French gave a most
unexpected turn to affairs.
During my sojourn in Tahiti, a report was rife - which I knew to
originate with what is generally called the "missionary party" - that
Poofai and some other chiefs of note had actually agreed, for a
stipulated bribe, to acquiesce in the appropriation of their country.
But subsequent events have rebutted the calumny. Several of these
very men have recently died in battle against the French.
Under the sovereignty of the Pomarees, the great chiefs of Tahiti were
something like the barons of King John. Holding feudal sway over
their patrimonial valleys, and on account of their descent, warmly
beloved by the people, they frequently cut off the royal revenues by
refusing to pay the customary tribute due from them as vassals.
The truth is, that with the ascendancy of the missionaries, the regal
office in Tahiti lost much of its dignity and influence. In the days
of Paganism, it was supported by all the power of a numerous
priesthood, and was solemnly connected with the entire superstitious
idolatry of the land. The monarch claimed to be a sort of bye-blow of
Tararroa, the Saturn of the Polynesian mythology, and cousin-german to
inferior deities. His person was thrice holy; if he entered an
ordinary dwelling, never mind for how short a time, it was demolished
when he left; no common mortal being thought worthy to inhabit it
afterward.
"I'm a greater man than King George," said the incorrigible young Otoo
to the first missionaries; "he rides on a horse, and I on a man."
Such was the case. He travelled post through his dominions on the
shoulders of his subjects; and relays of mortal beings were provided
in all the valleys.
But alas! how times have changed; how transient human greatness. Some
years since, Pomaree Vahinee I., the granddaughter of the proud Otoo,
went into the laundry business; publicly soliciting, by her agents,
the washing of the linen belonging to the officers of ships touching
in her harbours.
It is a significant fact, and one worthy of record, that while the
influence of the English missionaries at Tahiti has tended to so
great a diminution of the regal dignity there, that of the American
missionaries at the Sandwich Islands has been purposely exerted to
bring about a contrary result.
CHAPTER LXXXI.
WE VISIT THE COURT
IT WAS about the middle of the second month of the Hegira, and
therefore some five weeks after our arrival in Partoowye, that we at
last obtained admittance to the residence of the queen.
It happened thus. There was a Marquesan in the train of Pomaree who
officiated as nurse to her children. According to the Tahitian
custom, the royal youngsters are carried about until it requires no
small degree of strength to stand up under them. But Marbonna was
just the man for this - large and muscular, well made as a statue, and
with an arm like a degenerate Tahitian's thigh.
Embarking at his native island as a sailor on board of a French
whaler, he afterward ran away from the ship at Tahiti; where, being
seen and admired by Pomaree, he had been prevailed upon to enlist in
her service.
