{"id":"01KG8AKXAX0M4NDXE398EH6T6V","cid":"bafkreifnmyqal5c2vhoqofj3eyfhazi5m7n5bhd6gl6a6va6yse5epof2q","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":10971,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":10899,"text":"CHAPTER LXXX.\r\nQUEEN POMAREE\r\n\r\n\r\nIt is well to learn something about people before being introduced to\r\nthem, and so we will here give some account of Pomaree and her family.\r\n\r\nEvery reader of Cook’s Voyages must remember “Otto,” who, in that\r\nnavigator’s time, was king of the larger peninsula of Tahiti.\r\nSubsequently, assisted by the muskets of the Bounty’s men, he extended\r\nhis rule over the entire island. This Otto, before his death, had his\r\nname changed into Pomaree, which has ever since been the royal\r\npatronymic.\r\n\r\nHe was succeeded by his son, Pomaree II., the most famous prince in the\r\nannals of Tahiti. Though a sad debauchee and drunkard, and even charged\r\nwith unnatural crimes, he was a great friend of the missionaries, and\r\none of their very first proselytes. During the religious wars into\r\nwhich he was hurried by his zeal for the new faith, he was defeated and\r\nexpelled from the island. After a short exile he returned from Imeeo,\r\nwith an army of eight hundred warriors, and in the battle of Narii\r\nrouted the rebellious pagans with great slaughter, and reestablished\r\nhimself upon the throne. Thus, by force of arms, was Christianity\r\nfinally triumphant in Tahiti.\r\n\r\nPomaree II., dying in 1821, was succeeded by his infant son, under the\r\ntitle of Pomaree III. This young prince survived his father but six\r\nyears; and the government then descended to his elder sister, Aimata,\r\nthe present queen, who is commonly called Pomaree Vahinee I., or the\r\nfirst female Pomaree. Her majesty must be now upwards of thirty years\r\nof age. She has been twice married. Her first husband was a son of the\r\nold King of Tahar, an island about one hundred miles from Tahiti. This\r\nproving an unhappy alliance, the pair were soon afterwards divorced.\r\nThe present husband of the queen is a chief of Imeeo.\r\n\r\nThe reputation of Pomaree is not what it ought to be. She, and also her\r\nmother, were, for a long time, excommunicated members of the Church;\r\nand the former, I believe, still is. Among other things, her conjugal\r\nfidelity is far from being unquestioned. Indeed, it was upon this\r\nground chiefly that she was excluded from the communion of the Church.\r\n\r\nPrevious to her misfortunes she spent the greater portion of her time\r\nsailing about from one island to another, attended by a licentious\r\ncourt; and wherever she went all manner of games and festivities\r\ncelebrated her arrival.\r\n\r\nShe was always given to display. For several years the maintenance of a\r\nregiment of household troops drew largely upon the royal exchequer.\r\nThey were trouserless fellows, in a uniform of calico shirts and\r\npasteboard hats; armed with muskets of all shapes and calibres, and\r\ncommanded by a great noisy chief, strutting it in a coat of fiery red.\r\nThese heroes escorted their mistress whenever she went abroad.\r\n\r\nSome time ago, the queen received from her English sister, Victoria, a\r\nvery showy, though uneasy, head-dress—a crown; probably made to order\r\nat some tinman’s in London. Having no idea of reserving so pretty a\r\nbauble for coronation days, which come so seldom, her majesty sported\r\nit whenever she appeared in public; and, to show her familiarity with\r\nEuropean customs, politely touched it to all foreigners of\r\ndistinction—whaling captains, and the like—whom she happened to meet in\r\nher evening walk on the Broom Road.\r\n\r\nThe arrival and departure of royalty were always announced at the\r\npalace by the court artilleryman—a fat old gentleman who, in a\r\nprodigious hurry and perspiration, discharged minute fowling-pieces as\r\nfast as he could load and fire the same.\r\n\r\nThe Tahitian princess leads her husband a hard life. Poor fellow! he\r\nnot only caught a queen, but a Tartar, when he married her. The style\r\nby which he is addressed is rather significant—“Pomaree-Tanee”\r\n(Pomaree’s man). All things considered, as appropriate a title for a\r\nking-consort as could be hit upon.\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJNJBEFNMKDCP3ZBKBYGG","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXAX7CNQXEHCF64KRM7F","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.805Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.960Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}