the atoll islands of the Paumotu Archipelago, some two hundred and fifty
miles northeast of Tahiti. The exact date of the first Tu's arrival in
Tahiti is unknown. Even the generation can not be fixed. The Pomares
were always ashamed of their Paumotu descent, which they regarded as a
flaw in their heraldry, and which was a reproach to them in the eyes of
the Tahitians, for all Tahitians regarded the Paumotus as savage, and
socially inferior. The first Tu who came to visit the distant land of
Tahiti, came in by the Taunoa opening, which is the eastern channel,
into what is now the harbor of Papeete. Landing at Taunoa a stranger, he
was invited to be the guest of Manaihiti, who seems to have been a chief
of Pare. He was adopted by the chief as his brother, and at the death of
the chief, he became heir and successor in the chief's line. He married
into the Arue family, which gave his son a claim to the joint chiefdom
of Pare Arue; and at last his grandson, or some later generation,
obtained in marriage no less a personage than Tetuaehuri, daughter of
Taiarapu. One of the members of this family, Teu (born 1720, died 1802)
made new and important advances in the social and political circles of
Tahiti by marriage, and became the father of Pomare I. (1743-1803), the
first king of Tahiti. Teu seems to have been a very clever and cautious
man. He never assumed to be a great chief or to wear the belt of
feathers. He was more jealous of his son than of Amo or his son
Teriirere. His son, Tu, was born about 1743. Related by birth with two
of the most influential families, he strengthened his native ties by
marrying Tetuanui-rea-i-te-rai, of the adjoining independent chiefdom of
Tefauai Ahurai, who was not only a niece of Purea, but quite as
ambitious and energetic as Purea herself. The English, who could not
conceive that the Tahitians should be able to exist without some
pretense of royalty, gave Tu the rank and title of king, notwithstanding
that he was only one, and at that not the most influential of several
Arii rahi. To the great dissatisfaction of the other chiefs, Tu received
the lion's share of presents from Captain Cook. At this action, the
Ahurai and Attahura people were enraged, and Cook was quite unable to
understand that they had reason to complain. To them, Cook's partiality
for Tu must have seemed a deliberate insult. When Cook returned on his
third voyage, in 1777, several Tahitian tribes were in a state of war
with Moorea, in which Tu took no active part. Cook then deliberately
intervened in the support of the plan he had adopted of elevating Tu at
the expense of the other chiefs. In his estimation, Tu was king by
divine right, and any attack on his authority was treason in the first
place, and an attack on British influence in the next. British influence
and British threats made a radical change in the government of Tahiti,
in opposition to the expressed wish of the great majority of the people.
England wanted to control the political affairs of the island for
commercial gain, and to extend her sovereignty in the South Seas, which
only confirms that
All government—indeed, every human benefit and enjoyment, every virtue
and every prudent act—is founded on compromise and barter.
BURKE.
After Cook's departure, nearly eleven years elapsed before another
European ship called at Tahiti, and, during this time, Pomare paid
dearly for the distinctions forced upon him by the foreigners. When
Lieutenant Bligh arrived in the _Bounty_, in 1788, Tu told him that after
five years from the time of Cook's last departure, the people of the
island Moorea (Eirrieo) joined with those of Attahura and made an attack
on his district, and many of his subjects were killed, while he had
himself fled, with the survivors, to the mountains. All the houses and
property had been destroyed or carried away by the enemy. Bligh landed
at Matavai in the _Bounty_ October 26, 1788. He came for a supply of
breadfruit, which was to be introduced and domesticated in the various
tropical colonies of Great Britain, and indirectly to advance the
interests and power of Tu, who had nearly lost his influence over the
natives. His position was so desperate that he begged the lieutenant to
take him and his wife, Tetua, to England. He had a son, at this time six
years old, who became the first Christian king of Tahiti. Before leaving
the island, April 3, 1789, Bligh did what he could to strengthen Tu's
position, and supplied him with firearms. For this act he gave the
following explanation:
He (Tu) had frequently expressed a wish that I would leave some
firearms and ammunition with him, as he expected to be attacked after
the ship sailed, and perhaps chiefly on account of our partiality to
him. I therefore thought it but reasonable to accede to his request. I
was the more readily prevailed on, as he said his intentions were to
act only on the defensive. This, indeed, seems most suited to his
disposition, which is neither active nor enterprising. When I proposed
to leave with him a pair of pistols, which they prefer to muskets,
they told me that his wife, Tetua, would fight with one and Oedidee
with the other. Tetua has learned to load and fire a musket with great
dexterity, and Oedidee is an excellent marksman. It is not common for
women in this country to go to war, but Tetua is a very resolute
woman, of a large make, and has great bodily strength.
History shows that Tetua was not the only fighting woman in Tahiti, as
at different times, in tribal wars, it was not uncommon for women to
take an active part, and in more than one instance the leading part.
On great occasions it is almost always women who have given the
strongest proofs of virtue and devotion; the reason is, that with men,
good and bad qualities are in general the result of calculation,
whilst in women they are impulses, springing from the heart.
COUNT MONTHOLON.
Lieutenant Bligh left the island April 4th. As he was passing the
Friendly, or Tonga group, April 28th, the larger part of his officers
and men mutinied and set him and some eighteen others adrift in the
ship's launch. The mutineers then put the ship about and returned to
Tahiti, where they arrived at Matavai Bay, June 6, 1789. There they took
in all the live-stock they could obtain, and twenty-four Tahitians, and
sailed again June 16th for Tubuai, but appeared once more, September
22nd, and landed sixteen of the mutineers, who were tired of their
adventures. The rest sailed suddenly the next night, and vanished from
the sight of men for twenty years. The sixteen mutineers who remained
scattered more or less over the island, but made Pare their headquarters
and Tu their patron. Here they set to work, November 12, 1789, to build
a thirty-foot schooner, with which to make their escape. The effect of
the example of these ruffians and criminals on the morals of the simple,
receptive Tahitians can be readily imagined. These men, who had enjoyed
the confidence of their commander and the advantages and pleasures of a
trip to foreign strange countries, proved ungrateful, and "the earth
produces nothing worse than an ungrateful man" (Ansonius). The schooner
was launched August 5, 1790. The war which immediately followed, and
which reestablished Tu in his power for the time, deserves to be called
the War of the Mutineers of the _Bounty_. When Tu died, thirteen years
later, the missionaries in their Journal recorded many details about his
life and character, and among other things, they said:
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.
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:
May 9th, Temarre accompanied the king and queen and staid to dine with
us. He is, we find, of the royal race and son of the famed Oberea. He
is the first chief of the island after Pomarre, by whom he has been
subdued, and now lives in friendship with him and has adopted his son.
He is also high in esteem as a priest.
In July of the same year the missionaries visited Temarii at Papara on
their way around the island. They found the chief under the influence of
Kava, but were feasted the next day on Temarii's feast pig. Not only was
Temarii the most powerful chief of the island, but Pomare had become, by
his son's accession, a chief of the second order. He depended greatly on
the favor of his son, the young Tu, who was, in 1797, supposed to be at
least fifteen and perhaps seventeen years of age, and who had been
adopted by Temarii, his cousin, who was about ten years older than he.
Adoption was rather stronger in the South Seas than the tie of natural
parentage. Between his natural father, Pomare, and his adopted father,
Temarii, the young Tu preferred the latter, and sooner or later every
one knew that Temarii would help Tu to emancipate himself and drive
Pomare from the island.
The _Duff_ sailed for England August 14, 1797, leaving the missionaries to
the mercies of rival factions, and they soon ascertained that Pomare and
Tu were on anything but friendly terms. The missionaries had faith in
Pomare, who chose one of them by the name of Cover as a brother. Temarii
chose another by the name of Main. These two missionaries went to Papara
August 15th, at the suggestion of the influential native priest, Manne
Manne, to remonstrate against a human sacrifice which was to be made at
the Marae Tooarai. On account of a murder recently committed, the
missionaries found the chief and people greatly excited, and fled as
quickly as possible.
In the month of March the missionaries found themselves in a critical
condition when the ship _Nautilus_ appeared and two of her crew deserted.
The deserters went to Pare and were sheltered there. The captain of the
_Nautilus_ at once set to work to recover them. Four of the missionaries
proceeded to Pare to see Tu, Pomare and Temarii and informed them that a
refusal to return the men would be regarded as exhibiting an evil
intention against the missionaries. They found Tu and Temarii at Pare,
but went to get Pomare to join them, when they were suddenly attacked
and stripped by some thirty natives, who took their clothes and treated
them rather roughly, but at last released them. They went to Pomare's
house and were kindly received. Pomare returned with them to Tu, and
insisted on the punishment of the offenders and the delivery of the
deserters. Two were executed, and the district of Pare took up arms to
avenge them. Tu joined his father and suppressed the riot, so that the
missionaries' clothes cost the natives fifteen lives before order was
restored. This incident made the missionaries very unpopular and they
had to depend more than ever on Pomare for protection.
On August 24th, two whaling vessels, the _Cornwall_ and _Sally_, of London,
anchored in Matavai Bay, and most of the principal chiefs went on board.
On the 30th, while the missionaries were at dinner, Pomare came in great
haste, and told them that a man had been blown up with gunpowder at the
Council house in Pare, and requested them to hasten to the place and
render assistance. When they arrived they found that the injured man was
Temarii. Here is the account of the affair by the missionaries:
At our arrival we were led to the bed of Temaree called also Orepiah,
and beheld such a spectacle as we had never before seen. Brother
Broomhall began immediately to apply what he had prepared with a
camel's-hair brush over most parts of the body. He was apparently more
passive under the operation than we could conceive a man in his
situation would be capable of. The night drawing on, we took leave of
him by saying we would return next morning with a fresh preparation.
On the following morning we were struck with much surprise at the
appearance of the patient He was literally daubed with something like
a thick white paste. Upon inquiry we found it to be the scrapings of
yams. Both the chief and his wife seemed highly offended at Brother
Broomhall's application the preceding evening, and they would not
permit him to do anything more for him, as he had felt so much pain
from what he had applied. It was said that there was a curse put into
the medicine by our God.
It must be remembered that the Tahitian chiefs were also priests and not
infrequently acted as physicians. The dissatisfaction of Temarii with
the treatment of his case by the missionaries had therefore to be
considered as a most unfortunate affair. Under these conditions the
missionaries were apprehensive of increasing hostilities. The suspicion
on part of the superstitious natives that the missionaries had been sent
by Pomare to curse Temarii and cause his death was not only a natural
but a reasonable one to the chief as well as his subjects. Pomare was
quite capable of such conduct and as far as the natives knew, the
missionaries were Pomare's friends and supporters. The accident which
gave rise to this unfortunate occurrence was due to the English
gunpowder and it was fortunate that the missionaries had nothing to do
with furnishing it. The explosion occurred while Temarii was testing the
quality of powder which he obtained from the whalers _Cornwall_ and _Sally_.
A pistol was loaded and unthinkingly fired in the midst of a number of
people, over the whole quantity (five pounds) of powder received. A
spark of fire dropped from the pistol upon the powder that lay on the
ground, and in a moment it blew up. The natives did not feel
themselves hurt at first, but when the smoke was somewhat dispersed,
observing their skin fouled with powder, they began to rub their arms,
and found the skin peeling off under their fingers. Terrified at this,
they instantly ran to a river near at hand and plunged themselves in.
Temarii lingered in great suffering till September 8th, but the
missionaries did not dare to visit him again for fear of violence on the
part of the indignant natives. The whole body of chiefs was present and
looked on in consternation while Temarii died. The chief's remains were
carried, in the usual state, round the island to all his districts and
duly mourned; and in the regular course prescribed by the island
ceremonial, his head was secretly hidden in the cave at Papara. These
demonstrations served to spread the news of the calamity, for which the
missionaries received the exclusive blame. The political complications
which followed induced Pomare to seek safety in flight to the Paumotu
Islands, leaving his wife to face the storm. The chiefess was not idle
after her husband's cowardly flight. On the 29th of November she
compromised with Tu by ceding to him the authority he wanted, and
obtained from him a pledge assuring her safety. This guaranty was the
life of the high priest, old Manne Manne, Tu's best friend. He was
murdered by Tetuanui's people on his way from Matavai to Pare. The
chiefess was in the missionaries' house when this news arrived. She had
a cartridge-box around her waist and a musket near at hand. She shook
hands in a friendly manner with the Swede, saying unto him, "It is all
over," meaning the war, and immediately returned to her home. Pomare
gained nothing by these dissensions, for he had nothing to gain, but had
to sacrifice a part of his possessions. The only winner in this tragic
game was the worst and most bloodthirsty of all, Tu, the first Christian
king. It must be remarked that this king was the creation of the
English, and that he was used as a tool in the hands of the
missionaries. The Europeans came, and not only upset all the moral ideas
of the natives, but also their whole political system. Before European
influence made itself felt in Tahiti, whenever a chief became
intolerably arrogant or dangerous, the other chiefs united to overthrow
him. All the wars that are remembered in island traditions were caused
by the overweening pride, violence or abnormal ambition of the great
chiefs of districts, and always ended in correcting existing evils and
in restoring the balance of power.
The English came just at the time when one of these revolutions was in
progress. The whole island had united to punish the chiefess of Papara
for outrageous disregard of the island courtesies which took the place
of international law between great chiefs. Purea had taken away the
symbol of sovereignty she had assumed for her son, and had given it for
safe-keeping to the chief of Paea. The natives and chiefs had recognized
the chief of Pare, Arue, as entitled to wear the Maro-ura, which Purea
had denied him by insulting his wife. Then the chief of Paea had tried
to imitate Purea and assert supreme authority, only to be in his turn
defeated and killed.
Probably Tu would never have attempted a similar course if the English
had not insisted on recognizing and treating him as king of the whole
island. He was one of the weakest of the chiefs and enjoyed little if
any reputation as a military power. The other chiefs would have easily
kept him in his proper place if the English had not constantly supported
him and restored him to power when he was vanquished. English
interference and the assistance of the missionaries prolonged his
ambition and caused the constant revolutions which gave no chance for
the people to recover from the losses. Pomare was a shrewd politician
and with the assistance of English guns finally gained control over the
whole island, crushing tribal rule, the safeguard of the people under
his despotic rule. All visitors to the island became aware how
desperately the unfortunate people struggled against the English policy
of creating and supporting a tyranny. The brutality and violence of Tu
made him equally hated by his own people of Pare and by the Teva
districts. Of these facts the missionaries had full knowledge, as is
evident from their numerous correspondents, nevertheless, they assisted
him in carrying out his plans to gain control over the entire island.
They supplied him freely with firearms and ammunition. To preserve peace
the missionaries did some very curious things which suggest, as they
hinted, that they were glad to see the natives fighting together, as is
evident from one of their daily records:
August 20, 1800.—We hear great preparations are making, whether for
war or peace is to be determined in a short time, by some heathenish
divination. If it should prove for war, those who are eager for blood
seem determined to glut themselves, we rejoice that the Lord of Hosts
is the God of the heathen as well as the Captain of the Armies of
Israel; and while the potsherds of the earth are dashing themselves to
pieces one against the other, they are fulfilling his determinate
counsels and foreknowledge.
In the month of June Pomare instituted a wholesale massacre to subject
the entire island to his rule, and by brutal force gained the object of
his ambition. In 1808 the political situation was such that the
missionaries found it necessary for their safety to leave the island,
and fled with Pomare, November 12th, to the island of Moorea. Pomare's
cruelties and atrocities practiced upon the natives during his
tyrannical rule are well described in a pen-picture drawn by Moerenhout:
After having massacred all whom they had surprised (in Attahura),
after having burned the houses, they went on to Papara, where Tati,
who is still living (1837), was chief; but fortunately a man who had
escaped from the carnage of Punaauia came to warn the inhabitants of
Papara, so that they had time, not to unite in defense, but to fly.
Nevertheless, in that infernal night and the day following a great
number of persons perished, especially old men, women and children;
and among the victims were the widow and children of Aripaia
(Ariifaataia) Amo's son, who, surprised the next evening near
Taiarahu, were pitilessly massacred with all their attendants. Tati
and some of his warriors succeeded in reaching a fort called
Papeharoro, at Mairepehe; but they were too few to maintain themseives
there, and were forced to take refuge in the most inaccessible parts
of the high mountains, from whence this chief succeeded in getting to
a canoe which some of his faithful followers provided for him, and
kept in readiness on the shore, at the peril of their lives. With him
were his brother and his young son, whom he had himself carried in his
arms during all this time of fatigue and dangers.
Opuhara became chief of Papara, and soon afterward chief of the island,
and remained the chief personage of Tahiti during the next seven years.
Ellis, the historian of the missionaries, described him as an
intelligent and interesting man.