My husband then returned to Tahiti with Ariipaea, and during our absence the battle of Punaauia had already been fought. He and Ariipaea were then sent off to Punaauia, and succeeded in making peace, after which they came to Raiatea, to join me, and to again ask the queen to go to her government. Whilst we were still there, the news arrived fhat another of the battles of Punaauia had taken place, and the French commander Brea had been killed, and the second in command wounded [30 May, 1846]; that the French had been badly beaten in that valley. On account of this victory of the natives, the queen seemed to have changed her mind again, for she imagined that the Tahitians would at last make head against the French, and drive them out of the country. I had then been two months in Raiatea with her, trying with all my power to get her to come home. The chiefs, during my absence, had again reunited, and decided that they would not enter into an agreement with the French as long as the queen was away, and that she had to come there first and make her submission, before they would do so. There were people on the island giving her advice contrary to ours, and they seemed to be gaining more ground with her, which hurt me very much, as our own affairs on the island were going badly on account of our absence, and the whites of Tahiti were simply using my name as traitress to her country.

Indigenous Histories