Fifty years ago, everyone in the civilised world knew that, in 1836, two French missionaries landed at Tahiti to convert, not pagans but Protestant Christians, to the faith of Rome. The missionaries who ruled Tahiti, indignant at this interference, invoked the aid of the British Consul Pritchard, who caused the Queen to order their arrest and expulsion. The order was executed Dec. 12, 1836.
The two French missionaries made a protest to their government, and King Louis Philippe sent a frigate to Papeete with the usual message of great powers to little ones,-- an ultimatum, to which the Queen naturally acceded, as small powers always have done, and always must do, before great ones.
Then began a struggle on the part of Consul Pritchard and the London missionaries to recover their ground, which led to a letter from Queen Pomare to Queen Victoria suggesting a British protectorate, whereupon the French government sent another frigate to Tahiti, in 1839, and made Aimata repeat her submission.
As the British government had at that time very little sentiment about missionaries, and Sir Robert Peel had a very precise knowledge of the value of unclaimed islands all over the world, Queen Victoria did not accept the advance made by Pomare, and the missionaries were again thrown on their own resources. Then the chiefs broke loose from the missionaries, and in September, 1841, decided that, between such masters as England and France, they could not hope to maintain independence or even a good understanding; and since England would not undertake to protect them, they Would try to obtain protection from France. So they drew up the necessary papers for the Queen to approve; but a British frigate arrived at that moment, and this reinforcement of the British interest decided Aimata to refuse to sign.
The next August another French squadron arrived, and the chiefs again took counsel, with the admiral's aid and advice. They arrived at the same decision they had reached the previous year; and it is hard to see how they could reach any other. The letter which they wrote, Sept. 9, 1842, to the admiral Du Petit-Thouars, gave the conclusive reasons for the step, and is proof enough of their intelligence.
"Inasmuch as we cannot continue to govern ourselves so as to live on good terms with foreign governments, and we are in danger of losing our island, our kingdom, and our liberty, we, the Queen and the high chiefs of Tahiti write to ask the king of the French to take us under his protection."
This paper was signed by four chiefs, of whom Tati was one. It was then sent to Aimata at Eimeo, and, after much hesitation, she also signed. The French Admiral, on September 30, 1842, hoisted the flag of the protectorate; and the chiefs, no doubt, were happy to think that at last their anxieties were partially thrown on stronger shoulders.
Far from it! Pritchard returned from England, Feb. 25, 1843, and declared violent war against the French. Queen Pomare obeyed his wishes, and refused to obey those of the Freneh Admiral. Du Petit-Thouars, on thgse considerations, lost his temper; landed troops; took possession of the island; declared the Queen deposed; and, when disturbances began, which he believed to be fomented by Pritchard, he arrested Pritchard and turned him roughly out of the island.
The English and French press, on this news, made an outcry that deafened Europe; but Louis Philippe disavowed the Admiral, and ordered him to return to the Protectorate. Unfortunately the shock of these violent changes had already disturbed the peace at Tahiti; Aimata fled to a British ship and then to Raiatea; her people at Mahaena and Hitiaa -- the whole Pomare connection -- took up arms, and established themselves close to Papeete; in short, another civil war broke out. In this case, however, the quarrel was between the Pomares and the Europeans who had hitherto been their allies. Tati took no share in the revolt, but not a few of the Tevas joined it, and the years of 1844 and 1845 were a season of fighting and marching, sometimes severe and always exhausting to the combatants on both sides.
At this point, in February, 1846, begins my own story of how I interposed, as chiefess, to bring about peace, and the submission of the islanders to French rule. I repeat it in my own words which are more lifelike than any that an editor could use.
I was no sooner ready than a note arrived from the governor, sending me his own and his wife's horses as a means of transport. We then started upon our journey, arriving at the first outpost Taharaa. We found the troops there under arms and preparing to enforce the orders. Letters, however, delivered to the commander of these troops stopped their advance, and there the governor's aide-de-camp returned to town. Our passports were given here, and myself with my relation continued on our trip alone. Arriving at Point Venus, we were made to show our passports, and then were allowed to continue to our destination. Both of us were very much afraid, on seeing all of these men drawn up with their arms, ready for the march; but we plucked up our courage, and thoroughly intended to see the end of our object. My relation Ariipaea, however, was more afraid of our own natives than of the French, as lately he had deserted his own side. I, however, knew my influence with the natives would be sufficient to save him from any trouble whatever. We very soon arrived at the third outpost of the French at Tafai. We passed through this outpost without difficulty. We rested a while when there, as we saw there some of our old friends who had sided with the French, who kept us for breakfast. We were lucky to have accepted this invitation to stay to breakfast, as we were told then that a man named Aifeuna, with his companion, Nohoraa, had inquired what was the object of our visit, and when they were told we were on our way to Papenoo to offer peace to the natives, they had said they would never allow Ariipaea to pass with his life. They were seen to have gone on to the point of a hill a little beyond, with their muskets, with the full intention of shooting him and perhaps myself; these two men having suffered from the natives.
These two intended murders, however, were prevented by the people with whom we had taken our meal. We then rode on. Arriving at a point beyond, we saw a small detachment of the native troops, consisting of ten or twelve men, who were burning a small house on the beach. When they saw us riding up, they called out to stop, or they would fire on us. I recognized the first, a young man in this small detachment, and when he recognized me, he ran up and cried out, "What news do you bring?" I simply said that I wanted to see the chiefs in command, and asked him where they were. He said: "They are in the fort." I inquired which one of the forts, and he replied: "The one at Poroporo." I asked again where was Ori. Ori was a half brother of my father's. He replied: "He is in Papenoo." We continued riding as fast as we could, and everywhere on our route we saw people running about in great excitement, as the news of the two steamers coming to bombard the village had already arrived before us, and they were making their way into the bush, with all they could of their utensils. Arriving at the nearest part of the fort, I called out to a young man that I had previously known, who ran out to us and took our horses, and led us on foot up to the fort. This man, however, I sent ahead, to inform the chiefs, that I knew well, to come out of the fort and meet me. About half way up to the fort, three of these chiefs came out, and cried with pleasure when they saw me. One of the three was Pihato, a son of the old chief of Papenoo, who was the head man in the fort. Arato was another. He was a brother in law of Ori, my uncle. I then asked these three men where all of the chiefs were collected, and they said that they were then in their different forts. I then told the head man to try, if possible, to collect all these chiefs in one place, with as many men as possible, as I had something very serious to put before them. He then decided to have our meeting take place in the village of Papenoo itself, and at once led me to the town hall of this village.
At the entrance to the village, Teavaava and the people of Hitiaa and Tiarai, with their chiefs, Manua and Teriitua, with the principal men of their districts, were all in their fort. Near this fort was a large house into which we entered. In this house I found a brother of the chief, Manua, the chief Aru; Taute, Aiani, and Kama -- all men holding chief's commands. Those from Hitiaa, I knew. There I saw Teriitua, herself, and Teohu and Tumoehamia. These two were in command of that district. Teriitua, who was my aunt, caught me by my legs and began to cry. One of the chiefs then brought me a stool. My aunt then asked me why I was there. Knowing that this person, with her two men in command, held the power of Teono, and wishing to explain to them the object of my visit before the arrival of the rest, I at once told them what I intended to do, and asked her to help me in carrying out my object, as I was afraid that without gaining her on my side, those of the Teporionuu would do their best to go against my peaceful intention. In a little while the chiefs began to arrive at this meeting, and I saw the chief men who represented the Pomares, Teaa-toro and Nuutere. I, however, saw the latter Nuutere, coming, and I walked out of the house to meet him. As soon as he saw me he came towards me, and even before saluting me, said: "What have you to do here?" I continued walking, and took him by the hand, and said to him: "My object in coming here is to bring peace, and I have counted upon you for the sake of old friendship to be my speaker in this trying instance." I could see that he was very much perplexed in this, for I had heard that he would probably be the first one to refuse the offer of peace. Being, however, alone, for he had not seen Ariipaea, he could not leave me, a lone woman, to speak out before all these men, and therefore he assented to my request. The people then were continuing to arrive, and in very little while, most of the head chiefs were there together. The house being unable to hold every one, our meeting was proposed to be taken to the church building. Teohu then came forward and said to me: "Let us all go!" I called Nuutere to be near me. I then explained to him what I intended him to ask in my name. I informed him that I had seen the French governor, who had given me only a short time to come and meet with these people in their different camps, to present to them a proposition of my own to undertake to prevent bloodshed. He then called first Teaatoro. They talked together a little while without my hearing them, and just before entering the church, Nuutere whispered to me that Teaatoro would be all right. I could see that pretty near the whole of the island was represented at this meeting, those of Tautira only being absent.
After they had heard the object of my visit amongst them, Teaatoro got up as the chief speaker, and stated in the name Tu: "We are all as one person in this meeting, and we have suffered together as brothers. We have heard what the object of this lone woman's visit amongst us is -- solely for our good and that of our children. What can we say to this? We can only return her one answer, which is to thank her for the trouble and danger she has taken upon herself for the peace she has brought, and she must return to the French commander with this, our answer. We have been here for months, on the point of starvation. We have lost a great many of our men by fighting. We lost a great many at Taravao. The best of our blood was spilled at Mahaena. At Piha-e-atata, our young men were slain. Our queen left us in the midst of our troubles and went away to a different island without the least sorrow for us. We have heard no words of the help which was promised us by Great Britain." Another of the chiefs then got up, named Roura. This one turned to me and said: "Ariitaimai, you have flown amongst us, as it were, like the two birds Rua taa and Teena. Your object was to join together Urarii and Manu, and you have brought them into this valley. You have brought the cooling medicines of vainu and mahainui-eumu into the hearts of the chiefs that are collected here. Our hearts yearn for you, and we cannot in words thank you; but the land, one and all, will prove to you in the future that your visit will always remain in their memory. You have come personally. I have heard you speak the words out of your own mouth. You have brought us the best of all goods, which is peace. You have done this when you thought we were in great trouble, and ran the risk of losing our lives and property. You have come forward as a peace-maker for us all."
The other chief repeated pretty nearly the same words. Those, however, who represented amongst this group my own district, said: "As you are my head, my eyes, my hands and my feet, what more can I say? what you have decided, we accept and will carry out."
One man amongst them then got up, a man named Haururu, and turning around to the other chiefs, called out, in a very loud voice, and said: "Why have you decided upon this peace so soon? Tahiti is not broken asunder. We could play with the French until we could get aid of Great Britain, who has formally promised to help us through in this war. I think you have all done wrong, and if Great Britain hears of this new state of affairs, she will altogether withdraw her help from us."
My speaker replied to him and said: "Where were you, that consider yourself such a fighting man, in the fights that have already happened? I have never perceived you ahead of the others. You do not excel the youngest of our men in all of these battles. What have you got to say? What are you known as in the annals of the country, which allows you to get up and speak when your chiefs have already given the word? If peace had not been declared here amongst us all, your blood would have to pay for this insult."
The meeting then broke up. It was then about two o'clock in the afternoon, and as I had to arrive in Papeete before midnight, the time allowed me by the governor as a limit to which he would wait in giving out new orders for taking these forts, I had to make all haste to prepare for the journey. We had hardly finished when the Teva, represented by two of their chiefs, arrived. These, however, being 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. I said to them that so far as peace was concerned, I did not think it would do any harm to the queen, and that I would certainly be willing to continue to act as a peacemaker and would go to Raiatea and bring her back to her own country. They then requested me to do so, and to try all that I could with her to get her to come back to her own home. They said: "When you arrive on that island, tell her from us that she must write to us and inform us the object of the visit of the English admiral in Raiatea, and whether England, or Great Britain, has withdrawn her promise of help given us heretofore; and that she must write to us and inform us whether yes or no, and whether we are to accept the French government altogether."
Early in the morning I and my friend started on our return. Ten of the chiefs escorted us. On arriving at the first outpost of the French, we saw a troop of men having two natives amongst them, one of them a man named Paete, who was a judge in the district of Papeete. They were preparing to leave, with the intention of attacking one of the principal forts. Our escort left us there, and as soon as the French heard that there was a truce still continuing, orders were given for the men to return to their positions.
I made all the haste possible to arrive in the town of Papeete before the expiration of the time I had asked for, in which I succeded. did not even call at my own home, but went straight up to the governor's house. The governor, having seen me at a distance, riding up, came outside to meet me and help me off my horse. He understood a little Tahitian, and said: "Is it peace?" I replied that it was peace, and that everything was all right. He held my hand, and said: "The Tahitians should never forget you; but do not consider your work finished. You must now prepare to leave and to go to Raiatea." I told the governor that I would follow out his instructions, and I would certainly go; but that I had to consult my grandfather, Tati. When the old man heard that I was preparing to leave for Raiatea, he came, and with a troubled face, said to me: "Are you really going to fetch the queen, and bring her back to this country?" I told him that I was going to do so. This affected him a great deal, but he did not say why. In leaving, however, he simply said these words: "Do your duty!" We at once made preparations to go on this trip. My husband and Arii-paea were to accompany me. The governor had ordered the steamer Phaeton to be prepared, and we were to leave at twelve o'clock that day for Huahine. Orders were given on board the steamer to the commander of the vessel that he was to follow my orders in everything concerning where the vessel should go. On the next day we arrived at Huahine, where I was very well received by my old relations. We stayed there a few hours, and continued on our route for Raiatea, where we safely arrived. A boat was at once sent with a message, and our letters, to the queen. These were sent by Ariipaea, who, however, was obliged to return, as he was fired upon. In a little while, however, a man named Moemoe seemed to have recognized us from one of the islands, and pulled off in a canoe. He became then the bearer of our letters. In a short time we received a reply from the queen Pomare, who wrote me to say that Tamatoa, her uncle, and Tehaapapa, her aunt, would not allow her to receive us on shore, as we belonged to the French side, but that if we would go on to an island and let the vessel go back to Huahine at once, we might then come ashore. This we would not hear of, as we were afraid that as soon as the French vessel left we should all be murdered. We, however, continued at our anchorage during that night. Early in the morning, an old nurse of ours named Ino, and a relation of ours, Tahitoe, came on board and met me. In a little while there came off a boat from the shore, sent by the queen to bring us there. They had changed their minds at a meeting held the evening before. We were then taken to Vairahi, where we found the queen Pomare, with all of her relations about her. She cried very much when she saw me, and very soon the whole place was filled. Tamatoa and Terii maevarua were also present.
Ariipaea spoke for us, and told the queen that the object of our visit was to take her back to her island, and submit to the French; that we were authorized by the governor of the French to tell her that all of the past and her own action in breaking up the agreement which was entered into with the French would be overlooked for this time, and that they would continue to honor her and accept her as queen of Tahiti.
Her spokesman, her uncle, replied, saying: "What you have spoken is good for the queen of Tahiti. We know that she is queen of Tahiti, and she has therefore everything to say to her people; but you forget that Pomare is our guest. She gave herself up into our hands, and we have made our minds up that we will protect her, and no harm shall ever come to her during her stay with us."
My husband then spoke and told these people of the harm that they were doing the queen whom they pretended to love, and that if they did not accept the conditions which the French had offered, she would altogether lose her own power on the island.
These arguments seemed to trouble them, for Tapoa, a powerful chief at once replied: "You are right, and these are wrong. We have not the power to go to Tahiti and force the French away from that island, and put this queen in their place." Pomare seemed to me very weak-minded at that meeting, for she did not say a word. She kept crying on. My husband then spoke to her, and said: "What have you got to say? Can't you say something for yourself and for your own government, or have you forgotten that you are the queen of Tahiti, and that these people here have nothing in common with you?"
The speaker replied at once, and said: "We are trusting to the help of Great Britain, who has promised us to send ships and men to fight our cause, and to keep us an independent state."
The queen herself then said: "I trust to the word of Great Britain, and I will not return and be under the French." My husband then replied by saying: "Now we have your own words, and I beg of you to reconsider them. If you do not wish to go back, give us your eldest son or your mother, and let us go to Tahiti and accept the protectorate for them." Tamatoa got up in a rage and said: "We will not permit any of the Pomare sons or anything belonging to her to return to Tahiti." Ariipaea then got up and said: "We have now heard your reply to the French governor of Tahiti, and we wish now to inform you of the word sent through us by the chiefs of Tahiti; they wish to be informed through you of the engagement you have taken with Great Britain, which was arranged here between you and the admiral. You must inform them of it, and we have given our word to be the bearer of your letter to them, in reply to their demand."
We could see then that this seemed to trouble them a great deal and they appeared to be undecided what to do, or what answer to give to the demands of the chiefs of Tahiti. Queen Pomare then asked me aside: "Have you been to the wars or to the forts?" I replied: "Yes!"; that I had been there, and how sorry I felt at seeing them in the state they were, poor, with hardly clothes enough to wear, and very near to the point of starvation, and I said: "You must write to them, somehow or other."
This seemed to trouble her a great deal, but she said nothing. On that day we saw the frigate Uranie going from Huahine, and we were told that Mai and Tefaaora, men of Borabora, were aboard of her. This frigate, I was told by the governor in Tahiti, was to go and anchor in the harbor at Huahine, awaiting the results of our visit to Raiatea. These two men having decided for the French, were obliged to leave their island to save their lives. The French had sent this frigate down there, thinking that these islands were also under the government of Pomare.
We then returned to Tahiti. After a few days governor Bruat sent again for me, and said that I had better go back to Raiatea, and continue what I had already done. We prepared a second time to go, and this time we went by a small cutter boat. At that time I took over with me my little daughter. We had a dreadful trip going over in this small cutter, and on my arrival at Vaiarahi, I found that the chiefs who had met there before were absent, as my visit was unknown to any of them. I therefore found Queen Pomare alone, and I stayed with her quite a long time. My husband was sent to Huahine, to arrange to make peace with that island, and the French frigate Uranie. The French were then trying to arrange for the independency of these little islands, as they did not belong to the government of Pomare at all. Tahiti and Moorea and the lower archipelago were the only ones that were under the government of the Pomares. My husband then came back to Raiatea to us and told the queen that as soon as the peace was arranged the Uranie would leave for Tahiti; but she was however obliged to make two trips before that was settled. He then returned to inform the queen of the result and success of his arrangements, before leaving for Tahiti. At the same time he asked her again to come back to her own land, and put herself under the French protectorate that she had already signed documents for. She then replied to us, unexpectedly, that she would do so, but for us not to be in too much of a hurry. The governor's representative on board of the vessel then returned to Tahiti.
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.
The queen, however, promised, at last, that she would leave by a small schooner called Ana. I then waited for the arrival of that schooner, and when she arrived, I saw the captain and made arrangements for him to take us all to Tahiti. He told me that the vessel was at my command, and that I could do what I liked with it, and that I had only to name the day for leaving, when she would do so. The first week passed without anything being decided, although every day I told the queen that we must leave. When it came to the end of the second week, my patience began to be exhausted, I then spoke again to her to get her to understand the necessity of deciding something, and told her that I could not be there wasting my time and awaiting her pleasure, as she had already said she would come back, and she was simply putting it off to an indefinite period. She sent word to Tamatoa, and her relations, to come and decide for her. That evening they all arrived. My husband then spoke to them and said the French government had been very badly treated by them, and that they were keeping the queen of Tahiti amongst themselves with no good object. He also asked them whether in case the French refused to receive this queen of Tahiti any more, would they give up their government for her as a sacrifice? This seemed to frighten these men, and Tapoa said to the queen: "You had better leave. We have heard that Great Britain has withdrawn her intentions of helping you, and you had better go straight back to your own government." She said then to Tapoa: "Who will take me? I have asked for a vessel to take me home, but it appears that I cannot have one." Tapoa replied: "Ariitaimai has been here for several months awaiting your pleasure, and vessels have been here for you, but you have simply been undecided all this time. What will you do without Tahiti?" She said that as the English were the persons who brought her to this island, she expected that they would also take her back home to her island. My husband then told her that the English certainly would not put a vessel at her orders to take her home to Tahiti, and that the French had already sent their war vessel twice, and now there was still a chance of their sending a third time, only he warned her that if, at that time, she still 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, when one day, an old native preacher came along, and secretly gave me a letter which I at once saw was from Queen Pomare. In this letter she wrote to say that she was very sorry for not having accepted my offer to bring her back to Tahiti, and that the news she had received from her island was troubling her a great deal, as it stated that her lands and her people were all killed or wounded, and that she had been informed that the chiefs had come in and submitted themselves to the French. This decided me at once to try again and ask the governor to allow me once more to go back to the island and get her and bring her back to us. This wish seemed to aggravate the governor towards me. He said: "Have you not done enough for the Pomares, that you should still continue to go down to fetch them?" He showed me a document which he was preparing, and which he intended to have published, by which he intended to take hold of the island and break up the act of protectorate that had been already made, and on account of my refusal to become the queen, instead of Pomare, to make the island a French colony at once. I, however, begged him to allow me to go down and bring Pomare back. He reluctantly agreed, and said to me: "You can go down, and if by chance that queen should hear you, you can bring her to Moorea, and leave her there, and let me know". We then started, on that very day. We called at Huahine, and the next morning we anchored in Raiatea. We found the queen fully prepared this time to come aboard with no more trouble, and we left there that evening. The next day we anchored in Moorea, where we went ashore. The steamer then proceeded to Papeete. The next day [6 Feb. 1847] it reappeared with the governor on board, and he came in person to receive the queen and bring her back home. As we all went on board a salute was fired. We went around the island flying the protectorate flag at the fore, to inform the people of these islands that their queen had returned. We then continued our route for Papeete, and on arriving there the forts from the shore saluted the flag. The queen remained several hours on board the steamer, as the governor wished the natives to see that the queen had really come back.
There were then in port several ships of war, French, British and American ships. There were soldiers in line on shore to receive us, and we were conducted to the governor's house. Tapoa had come with us on our return. The peace of the island was then decided upon. On arriving at the governor's house, we found all the commanders of the troops and vessels there, and before them I was thanked by Bruat for what I had done for my country.
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Tahiti - Marau Taaroa & Henry Adams