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Updated: May 13, 2025
The kings, princes, members of parliament, and other high officers, were to assemble at the residence of the Queen, and thence in a regular procession, arranged according to their several ranks and dignities, and headed by the young King and the Missionaries, to pass to an appointed open space, where a throne of stone had been erected, on which the little Pomareh was to be seated.
This very large building, which resembled an ancient temple in appearance, had been a favourite abode of the deceased monarch Pomareh, and since his death had remained uninhabited, out of respect for his memory. A number of utensils which had belonged to him, and a canoe, on which he had obtained many splendid victories, were still preserved here as memorials of the beloved king.
At length Pomareh himself, with his whole family, yielded to the arguments of the Missionary Nott, allowed himself to be baptized, and died as a Christian, in the prime of life, in consequence of an immoderate indulgence in the spirituous liquors which he had obtained from the ships of his new brethren.
For this reason, they resolved to confirm the title of the young Pomareh, by a solemn coronation; and to strengthen his party, all the tributary princes of the whole Archipelago were invited to be present at the ceremony. The preparations for this solemnity had long been carrying on, and as it was now soon to take place, nearly all the kings, with numerous suites, had arrived in Tahaiti.
The little Pomareh, a pretty, lively boy, was dressed quite in the European fashion, in a jacket and trowsers of bombasin; he wore a round hat, but his feet, like those of all the other Tahaitians, were bare. They object that any kind of shoe hinders their walking.
I received another visit from the Royal Family, accompanied this time by many of the Vice-Kings then in Tahaiti, with their consorts. Among them was the grandfather of the little monarch Pomareh the Second. After some preliminaries, my illustrious guests unanimously preferred a request in the most modest, yet pressing manner. They wished me to get a pair of boots made for the little King.
Ambition associated itself, as usual, to fanaticism. King Tajo, not content with seeing in the remains of his people none but professors of the new faith, resolved on making conquests that he might force it on the other Society Islands. He had already succeeded with most of them, when a young warrior, Pomareh, King of the little island of Tabua, took the field against him.
Pomareh was a wise and mild ruler. He left his subjects undisturbed in their new religion, although he did not profess it himself.
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