{"id":"01KG8AKXGB1S4ZAVQWAWPPDMXD","cid":"bafkreie62kftne5kztuh7zidp3y6fuelaf2pbrugbuilell3tqkpdtvwk4","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4512,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:15.149Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","start_line":4442,"text":"departure.\r\n\r\nAt a period subsequent to my first visit, the island, which before was\r\ndivided into nineteen districts, with a native chief over each, in\r\ncapacity of governor and judge, was, by Bruat, divided into four. Over\r\nthese he set as many recreant chiefs, Kitoti, Tati, Utamai, and\r\nParaita; to whom he paid 1000 dollars each, to secure their assistance\r\nin carrying out his evil designs.\r\n\r\nThe first blood shed, in any regular conflict, was at Mahanar, upon the\r\npeninsula of Taraiboo. The fight originated in the seizure of a number\r\nof women from the shore by men belonging to one of the French vessels\r\nof war. In this affair, the islanders fought desperately, killing about\r\nfifty of the enemy, and losing ninety of their own number. The French\r\nsailors and marines, who, at the time, were reported to be infuriated\r\nwith liquor, gave no quarter; and the survivors only saved themselves\r\nby fleeing to the mountains. Subsequently, the battles of Hararparpi\r\nand Fararar were fought, in which the invaders met with indifferent\r\nsuccess.\r\n\r\nShortly after the engagement at Hararparpi, three Frenchmen were\r\nwaylaid in a pass of the valleys, and murdered by the incensed natives.\r\nOne was Lefevre, a notorious scoundrel, and a spy, whom Bruat had sent\r\nto conduct a certain Major Fergus (said to be a Pole) to the\r\nhiding-place of four chiefs, whom the governor wished to seize and\r\nexecute. This circumstance violently inflamed the hostility of both\r\nparties.\r\n\r\nAbout this time, Kitoti, a depraved chief, and the pliant tool of\r\nBruat, was induced by him to give a great feast in the Vale of Paree,\r\nto which all his countrymen were invited. The governor’s object was to\r\ngain over all he could to his interests; he supplied an abundance of\r\nwine and brandy, and a scene of bestial intoxication was the natural\r\nconsequence. Before it came to this, however, several speeches were\r\nmade by the islanders. One of these, delivered by an aged warrior, who\r\nhad formerly been at the head of the celebrated Aeorai Society, was\r\ncharacteristic. “This is a very good feast,” said the reeling old man,\r\n“and the wine also is very good; but you evil-minded Wee-Wees (French),\r\nand you false-hearted men of Tahiti, are all very bad.”\r\n\r\nBy the latest accounts, most of the islanders still refuse to submit to\r\nthe French; and what turn events may hereafter take, it is hard to\r\npredict. At any rate, these disorders must accelerate the final\r\nextinction of their race.\r\n\r\nAlong with the few officers left by Du Petit Thouars were several\r\nFrench priests, for whose unobstructed exertions in the dissemination\r\nof their faith, the strongest guarantees were provided by an article of\r\nthe treaty. But no one was bound to offer them facilities; much less a\r\nluncheon, the first day they went ashore. True, they had plenty of\r\ngold; but to the natives it was anathema—taboo—and, for several hours\r\nand some odd minutes, they would not touch it. Emissaries of the Pope\r\nand the devil, as the strangers were considered—the smell of sulphur\r\nhardly yet shaken out of their canonicals—what islander would venture\r\nto jeopardize his soul, and call down a blight on his breadfruit, by\r\nholding any intercourse with them! That morning the priests actually\r\npicknicked in grove of cocoa-nut trees; but, before night, Christian\r\nhospitality—in exchange for a commercial equivalent of hard dollars—was\r\ngiven them in an adjoining house.\r\n\r\nWanting in civility, as the conduct of the English missionaries may be\r\nthought, in withholding a decent reception to these persons, the latter\r\nwere certainly to blame in needlessly placing themselves in so\r\nunpleasant a predicament. Under far better auspices, they might have\r\nsettled upon some one of the thousand unconverted isles of the Pacific,\r\nrather than have forced themselves thus upon a people already\r\nprofessedly Christians.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG8AJJFTRJ08XFHKDZRZG9TS","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG89J1H7Y803CZ7X80F0QFHZ","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KG89HMDZKNY753EZE1CJ8HZW","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG8AKXGBWQVSGVF4WQHY3GFM","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T20:48:19.979Z","ts":"2026-01-30T20:48:27.230Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}