{"id":"01KG8AKXAX6H5B8YA8YF1J8EF9","cid":"bafkreibkfh5yb674xsoy25aospyln224nvzm5hljah3b4k627orcymke7a","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":11085,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.153Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":11023,"text":"This is a fair example of a Tahitian in a passion. Though the mildest\r\nof mortals in general, and hard to be roused, when once fairly up, he\r\nis possessed with a thousand devils.\r\n\r\nThe day following, Tanee was privately paddled over to Imeeo in a\r\ncanoe; where, after remaining in banishment for a couple of weeks, he\r\nwas allowed to return, and once more give in his domestic adhesion.\r\n\r\nThough Pomaree Vahinee I. be something of a Jezebel in private life, in\r\nher public rule she is said to have been quite lenient and forbearing.\r\nThis was her true policy; for an hereditary hostility to her family had\r\nalways lurked in the hearts of many powerful chiefs, the descendants of\r\nthe old Kings of Taiarboo, dethroned by her grandfather Otoo. Chief\r\namong these, and in fact the leader of his party, was Poofai; a bold,\r\nable man, who made no secret of his enmity to the missionaries, and the\r\ngovernment which they controlled. But while events were occurring\r\ncalculated to favour the hopes of the disaffected and turbulent, the\r\narrival of the French gave a most unexpected turn to affairs.\r\n\r\nDuring my sojourn in Tahiti, a report was rife—which I knew to\r\noriginate with what is generally called the “missionary party”—that\r\nPoofai and some other chiefs of note had actually agreed, for a\r\nstipulated bribe, to acquiesce in the appropriation of their country.\r\nBut subsequent events have rebutted the calumny. Several of these very\r\nmen have recently died in battle against the French.\r\n\r\nUnder the sovereignty of the Pomarees, the great chiefs of Tahiti were\r\nsomething like the barons of King John. Holding feudal sway over their\r\npatrimonial valleys, and on account of their descent, warmly beloved by\r\nthe people, they frequently cut off the royal revenues by refusing to\r\npay the customary tribute due from them as vassals.\r\n\r\nThe truth is, that with the ascendancy of the missionaries, the regal\r\noffice in Tahiti lost much of its dignity and influence. In the days of\r\nPaganism, it was supported by all the power of a numerous priesthood,\r\nand was solemnly connected with the entire superstitious idolatry of\r\nthe land. The monarch claimed to be a sort of bye-blow of Tararroa, the\r\nSaturn of the Polynesian mythology, and cousin-german to inferior\r\ndeities. His person was thrice holy; if he entered an ordinary\r\ndwelling, never mind for how short a time, it was demolished when he\r\nleft; no common mortal being thought worthy to inhabit it afterward.\r\n\r\n“I’m a greater man than King George,” said the incorrigible young Otoo\r\nto the first missionaries; “he rides on a horse, and I on a man.” Such\r\nwas the case. He travelled post through his dominions on the shoulders\r\nof his subjects; and relays of mortal beings were provided in all the\r\nvalleys.\r\n\r\nBut alas! how times have changed; how transient human greatness. Some\r\nyears since, Pomaree Vahinee I., the granddaughter of the proud Otoo,\r\nwent into the laundry business; publicly soliciting, by her agents, the\r\nwashing of the linen belonging to the officers of ships touching in her\r\nharbours.\r\n\r\nIt is a significant fact, and one worthy of record, that while the\r\ninfluence of the English missionaries at Tahiti has tended to so great\r\na diminution of the regal dignity there, that of the American\r\nmissionaries at the Sandwich Islands has been purposely exerted to\r\nbring about a contrary result.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"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":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.805Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:32.965Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}