Chapter XV
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Pare Arue he had none. More and more his wars came to be carried on by foreign ruffians, either from the Paumotus, or such as Peter Haggerstein, the Swede, who was regarded by all other Europeans, whether missionaries or traders, as one of the most thorough villains unhung. At Eimeo his friends were Paumotuans, Boraborans, Raiateans, missionaries, or outcasts. He lived on what he could beg from European ships or from the missionaries. Even the Raiateans, Boraborans and missionaries at last deserted him. The missionary journal shews that they had long regarded their work as a failure; and, after identifying themselves with Pomare, in spite of emphatic warnings, no other result was possible. So the missionaries, leaving only Mr Nott at Eimeo, sailed away to Port Jackson, or Botany Bay, where the city of Sydney now stands, not daring to accept the proffered protection of the Tahiti chiefs because they could not separate themselves, in the minds of the common people, from Pomare and his interests.
What little we know of Papara and Opuhara during the next seven years, from December, 1808, to November, 1815, comes chiefly from Moerenhout, who must have got it from Tati. What we know of Pomare comes chiefly from the missionary histories. The person whose doings are most difficult to follow is Tati himself. We know that he went to Borabora, having married Tehea, who belonged to one of the three chiefly families of that island. We know, too, that Pomare, not long afterwards, contracted to marry, as his second wife, the elder daughter of Tamatoa, chief of Raiatea; but that the younger daughter, Terito, managed to get first to Eimeo, and was taken by Pomare as queen, in spite of the contract with her elder sister, who arrived only after Terito was fairly installed. The violation of faith was so flagrant that Pomare left to the elder sister the official title of queen, -- Pomare vahine, -- and queen she remained all her life, as far as concerned political energy, courage and control. Tamatoa came up to the marriage with his daughter. The wedding party seems
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 154, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-154.html