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Updated: June 25, 2025
There were other men, but among the women, all of whom sat below the humblest man, myself, was the Princesse de Joinville of Moorea, mother of Prince Hinoe, and grandmother of the youth at the head of the table, and of the boy, Ariipae, who attended to the chief's garden. This grandmother, known as Vahinetua Roriarii, was one of the very last survivors among the notable figures of the kingdom.
The Christian converts were slaughtered by the hundreds, and the pagans drove all the survivors to Moorea. After a season the conquerors grew lonesome, and invited them to return and abjure their false god, Ietu Kirito, whom they had defeated, and who by the Christians' own statement had been hanged on a tree by the Ati-Iuda, the tribe of Jews.
The bandsmen, all natives but one, wore garlands of purau, the scarlet hibiscus, and there was an atmosphere of abandonment to pleasure about them and the party. A schooner swung at her moorings near by, under a glowing, flamboyant tree, and her crew was aboard in expectation of sailing at any hour. Another small craft, a sloop, was preparing to sail for Moorea, also.
Moorea was emerging from darkness, its valleys a deep brown, and the tops of the serried mountains becoming green. Along the reef, outside, a schooner, two-masted, was making for the harbor. She was very graceful, and as she entered the lagoon through the passage in the barrier I was struck by her lines, slender, swelling, and feminine.
Pomaré and eight hundred men landed from Moorea, and with the missionaries began a song service on the beach, and "Come, let us join our friends above," and "Blow ye the trumpets, blow!" echoed from the hills. Couriers carried all over Tahiti word of the outrage to the gods, and the incensed heathens rose in immense numbers and attacked the hymners.
Again we passed the idyllic shores of Moorea, glimpsed the grove of Daphne and McTavish's bungalow at Urufara, and saw the heights, the desolated castle, the marvels of light and shade upon the hills and valleys, left the silver circlet of the reef, and made the open sea.
Even the ministers tarried a minute, and had to hold tightly their scriptures to control their legs, which itched to dance. Aboard the Potii Moorea the bandsmen came sober, a revelation in recuperation.
The chiefs of that district protested, and Otu's followers seized the idol, and went to sea with him. They landed as soon as it was safe, and mollified the god by a sacrifice; and having no victim, they killed one of Pomaré's servants. The island then divided into hateful camps, and Moorea joined the fray.
At landing I discovered that the bandsmen had stolen away the sleeping Mamoe, and had carried her aboard the Potii Moorea, and deposited her in the hold. She emerged fresh from her nap, and apparently ready for an upaupa that night. We marched to the Cercle Bougainville to recall the incidents of the excursion over a comforting Dr. Funk.
The barrels of beer were unheaded, the demi-johns from Bordeaux were uncorked, and from the opened bottles the sugary odor of Tahiti rum permeated the hot air. The captain of the Potii Moorea and the hired steward began to set the table for the déjeuner and to prepare the food, some of which was being cooked a few feet away by the steward's kin.
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