Tahiti, the island paradise

by Nicholas Senn

He was born in the district of Oparre, where his corpse now is, and was by birth chief of that district, and none other. The notice of the English navigators laid the foundation for his future aggrandizement; and the runaway seamen that from time to time quitted their vessels to sojourn in the island (especially that of His Majesty's ship Bounty's crew, which resided here) were the instruments for gaining to Pomarre a greater extent of dominion and power than any other man had before in Otaheite.

It is very evident that the first Pomare was a man without firmness and that what influence he exercised was due to the energies and ambition of his wife and to foreign support. When Lieutenant Bligh reached home and reported the mutiny, the British government sent the frigate Pandora in search of the Bounty and the deserted crew. The Pandora never found the Bounty, which long since had been burned by the mutineers at Pitcairn Island; but she did find such of the mutineers as had returned to Tahiti, and who were actively engaged in establishing Tu as a Tahitian despot, when the Pandora, in March, 1791, appeared in Matavai Bay. The mutineers, it seems, unable to keep at sea in the rickety schooner, landed at Papara, March 26th, and took refuge in the mountains. Captain Edwards, of the Pandora, immediately sent two boats, with a number of men, to Papara. Through the friendly office of the chiefs and natives, the mutineers were finally captured, one by one, until only six remained out, and these were at last found near the seashore, where they were captured after many fruitless attempts. The Pandora sailed from Tahiti with her prisoners in May, 1791, and in December following, Vancouver arrived in the sloop of war Discovery, on a search for a northwest passage to the Orient, stopping for supplies at Tahiti, December 28th.

A TAHITIAN HOME

Vancouver, who had been with Cook in 1777, inquired for his old friends. He learned that the young king had taken the name of Otoo, and his old friend that of Pomare, having given up his name with his sovereign jurisdiction, though he still seemed to retain his authority as regent. This is the first record of the name Pomare, by which the family has since been known. After the birth of the young Tu, about 1782, the first of his children who was allowed to live, the father seems to have taken the name of Tuiah, or Tarino, which he bore in 1788. He took the name of Pomare (night cough) from his younger son, Terii nava horoo, a young child in 1791, who coughed at night. With the assistance of English guns, Pomare waged active war on neighboring chiefs, and the chief of Papara was the last one to succumb. By successive vigorous strokes, he finally gained control of the entire group of islands, including Borabora.

MISSIONARY RULE

It is better that men should be governed by priestcraft than violence.

LORD MACAULEY.

The early missionaries of Tahiti played an important role in the island politics. They did not limit their work to the conversion of the heathen islanders, but took an active part in political affairs, and many of their doings in that direction were not in accord with the teachings of the gospel. The first missionaries sent to Tahiti from England reached the island in the Duff, March, 1797. They received information of the island politics from two Swedish sailors, Andrew Lind, of the ship Matilda, which had been wrecked in the South Sea in 1792, and Peter Haggerstein, who deserted from the Daedalus in February, 1793. Both of these men were adventurers of the type that has infested the South Seas for more than a century. They became well-known characters in the history of the island, sometimes assisting the missionaries, and sometimes annoying them. In July, 1797, Peter accompanied one of the missionaries as a guide and interpreter, on a circuit round the island, to make a sort of census, as a starting-point for the missionary work. They began with Papenoo, July 11th, and as they walked, Peter boasted of his exploits. His stories were so much in conflict with facts that they rather misled than aided the missionaries in search of island affairs. Temarii, the chief of Papara, had visited the missionaries at Matavai. The missionaries gave the following account of him:

May 7, 1797, visited by the chief priest from Papara, Temarre. He was dressed in a wrapper of Otaheitian cloth, and over it an officer's coat doubled around him. At his first approach he appeared timid, and was invited in. He was just about seated when the cuckoo clock struck and filled him with astonishment and terror. Old Pyetea had brought the bird some breadfruit, observing it must be starved if we never fed it. At breakfast we invited Temarii to our repast, but he first held out his hand with a bit of plantain and looked very solemn, which, one of the natives said, was an offering to Eatooa (Tahitian divinity) and we must receive it. When we had taken it out of his hand and laid it under the table, he sat down and made a hearty breakfast. Brother Cover read the translated address to all these respected guests, the natives listening with attention, and particularly the priest, who seemed to drink in every word, but appeared displeased when urged to cast away their false gods, and on hearing the names of Jehovah and Jesus he would turn and whisper. Two days afterwards, Temarii came again to the mission house and this time with the young Otoo, Pomare H., and his first wife Tetuanui.

Here again is the account of the visit by the missionaries: