Chapter XVIII
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Tahiti ran along curiously like Europe in her seasons of war and peace. The coincidence which made her a sort of shambles during the time of the long European wars, led to the coincidence that the year 1815 should have been the close of her age of violence, although I know no special reason why she should have been affected by the battle of Waterloo, or the European peace, or why the missionaries should have succeeded just then, without apparent effort, in obtaining the military strength which they had failed to get when Pomare was more powerful. At all events, for forty years or thereabouts, the missionaries ruled the islands; and, considering that the islands contained only five thousand inhabitants, or a few more or less, the missionaries and the islands made an immense noise in the world, and left a library of literature strewn along their track. Pomare became a name almost as well known in Europe as that of Louis Philippe. I am not going to tell the story of the missionary rule, or of the share which Tati took, during those years, in the island politics, for it can be read in dozens of books, from Moerenhout downwards, and the story, besides being dull, is one which still stirs up temper. The missionary reign was long, and, as far as I know, Tati and the Tevas gave it no trouble; but the day came at last when the sway of the missionaries was broken, and Tati had to suit himself to new conditions. He was still chief of Papara, but an old man, when the trouble came, and his
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© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 178, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-178.html