"The French took possession of Tahiti in 1842; they had been waiting for an opportunity, and it came in that year. Three Catholic missionaries had been expelled by Queen Pomare at the instigation, so the French say, of the English missionaries. A French fleet came to Papéiti and threatened to bombard the town unless her Majesty should pay immediately a large indemnity, and consent to the return of the expelled missionaries. The Queen was quite unable to raise the money, and the French took possession and established their protectorate.
"The protectorate continued till 1880, when the King, Pomare V., was persuaded to cede the nominal sovereignty in consideration of a life pension of twelve thousand dollars annually. The annexation of Tahiti as a French colony was formally proclaimed in Papéiti March 24th, 1881.
VIEW IN AN ORANGE GROVE.
"The first missionaries that came here were sent by the London Mission Society in 1797; but they made little progress in the conversion of the natives, and after a time were driven away in consequence of inter-tribal wars among the people. In 1812 the King invited them to return; they did so, and in the following year a church was established.
"The King was converted to Christianity, together with several of his priests and subordinate chiefs, and from that time on the work of the missionaries progressed rapidly. Long before the French took possession the entire population were nominally Christians, and had burned their idols and destroyed their heathen temples. There is no evidence that they ever practised cannibalism, but they were cruel in war. Prisoners were slaughtered in cold blood, or offered as sacrifices to the gods; human sacrifices were common, and there were certain tribes and families from whom, in times of peace, the victims for sacrifice were taken.
"In olden times these tribes and families were selected, and it is said there was a third of the population whose lives might be taken at any moment. When a victim was called for, resistance was useless, as the whole population, even including a man's nearest neighbors, united to carry him to the marae, or altar of sacrifice.
