Chapter XVIII
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continued to play off as she had already done, the patience of the French would be exhausted, and she would ultimately lose her possessions in the island. The queen then made some excuses by saying that her relations had been the cause of her being kept there, and that she personally had always wished to go back to Tahiti. Tapoa then got up and said that he washed his hands of all responsibility in keeping back the queen and that he himself was going to leave that evening for his island, and his final decision had been already stated. His advice was that the queen should go right back to her own country. He then saluted them and left the meeting at once. The remaining two sovereigns felt very fidgety over the decision taken by Tapoa. These two, however, still continued to decide not to let Queen Pomare leave. We then returned to our house. An hour or so afterwards we were sent for. There was then a long argument. After these discussions they decided to allow her to make her final decision in the matter. When she heard this, she cried and said: "I shall leave tomorow. I will not remain with you any more." We then went home, and my husband sent word to the captain of the vessel, which had arrived in the meanwhile, to prepare for our departure. We then left the island without the queen, and came within sight of Motuuta, when we were caught in a heavy squall, and our fore yard was broken, which forced us to return to Moorea. This action was reported to the governor, who, it seems, had thought that the queen was on board with us, and we hardly arrived in Moorea, when he came along in a steamer. My husband having seen by the signs of the flags that the governor was on board, rowed off at once to meet him. The governor then came ashore to see me, and offered to take me back to Tahiti the next morning, which I accepted. We then left our schooner behind us at Moorea.
We then remained at home in great trouble, and did not know what was to be done next. The governor on several instances offered to make me the sovereign of the island in place of Pomare, which, however, I could not entertain. We then continued to wait for the queen to decide. We passed a few weeks of peacefulness in Papeete, wh
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 194, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-194.html