Chapter XVIII
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one of ourselves, I was confident what they would say. As they were arriving at the house, I went forward myself and spoke to them in person, telling them not to feel hurt that the meeting had gone on without them; that I had given my word for them to the others. Moearu replied at once: "Our chiefess, you have done right." They stayed then on the outside, and did not enter the house. We then went to Ori's house to rest ourselves for a little while. Most of the head-men followed me, and offered to aid us on our way. Whilst we were there, the man Haururu then tried to create trouble amongst the young men of the different districts collected there, proposing to stop the peace that had already been decided upon by their chiefs, and to continue on, by stealth, and come to and beat out the first outpost of the French. The news of this new trouble was brought to me by some of our own men of Taiarapu, who told me of what had been done during my absence and the absence of the chiefs from the meeting house. This new state of affairs decided me to write to my husband in Papeete to ask him to see the governor, and tell him that the object of my visit had been decided upon, and to request him, at the same time, for a truce of twelve more hours, telling the messenger not to mention anything whatever about the last trouble, and that I would, myself, leave early in the morning to return to Papeete.
I then went to the house of my aunt, Teriitua, where I intended to sleep, for I was very tired after this hard day's work. I could not, however, take my rest until very late, because news began coming in all the time, which troubled me, and I was afraid that the ringleaders would increase and undo what had already been done. Teohu and Ori, however, assured me that I need not trouble myself any more about it; that the head chiefs had decided what was to be done, and that was final; that if these ringleaders continued to make trouble they would be shot.
Later on, four of the chiefs arrived. They came and asked me what would happen to the queen Pomare, in this peace, and whether I would go and bring her from Raiatea, where she had taken refuge.
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 187, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-187.html