THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI[1]

THE STORY OF ARIITAIMAI OF TAHITI[1]I wish peace, and any terms preferBefore the last extremities of war.DRYDEN.In one of the far-off isles of the South Seas, in the garden-spot of the Pacific, in golden Tahiti, about the year 1848, when Victoria was a young queen and mother, when France was in the throes of a second revolution, when the United States, a young republic, was still on trial before the old world, there was enacted one of the most touching dramas history has ever recorded, and this among a people considered savages by the so-called civilized world, and almost unknown until discovered through the missionary fervor of a few priests. The place, a small island, only a speck on the map; thedramatis personæ, France, England and America, the hereditary chiefs of a people who for forty generations had known no other rulers, a weak, vacillating native queen, and a noble-hearted native woman who knew how to be at the same time a loyal subject, a skilled diplomat, and that rarer and more beautiful thing, a faithful friend. If you would hear a story of friendship pure and undefiled, listen to the story of Ariitaimai of Papara, a Tahitian of noble birth, a child of Nature in its wildest and grandest aspect, rocked in a gigantic cradle of sea, sky and towering mountains, in a land of palm forests, where Nature has provided everything necessary to the life of her children, and where the pearls are the purest. If Cicero had known the story of Ariitaimai he would not have written inDe Amicitia:"But where will you find one who will not prefer to friendship, public honors and power, one who will prefer the advancement of his friend in public office to his own? For human nature is too weak to despise power." But to understand this thrilling and eventful drama, we must listen first to the chorus reciting something of the history of this strange people, and of the position of woman in a land where suffrage societies are unknown, and where the story of the inequality of the sexes had never been told by book or priest. Tahiti, Matea and Moorea are known as the Windward Islands of the Society Group in the South Seas. The Leeward Islands comprise the four kingdoms, Huahine, Borabora, Raiatea and Tahaa, together with some smaller islands, and are about one hundred and twenty miles from Tahiti. But it has always been in Tahiti, the gem of the Pacific, that the interest has been centered, and it was here that the struggle took place between the English and the French for supremacy in the South Seas.[1]This chapter is the product of the fertile pen of Dr. Lucy Waite. Surgeon-in-Chief of the Mary Thompson Hospital, Chicago.It was in 1769 that Captain Cook entered Matavai Bay on his first voyage to observe the transit of Venus. This spot is marked by a stone monument and has been known ever since as Point Venus. At this time Cook estimated the number of inhabitants at two hundred thousand. To-day, after the long contention between the French and English for supremacy, after the brave struggle of the natives against both for independence, after all the ravages made by the diseases introduced by foreigners, and after years of a fearful mortality caused by the enervating effect of civilization upon a people suited only to be children of Nature, this goodly number has been reduced to a pitiful eleven thousand. In fact, our so-called nineteenth century civilization has succeeded in practically exterminating a people who could produce a pearl among womankind, a rare and tender soul, such an one as English history does not give us, and France has produced but one, her own Jeanne D'Arc.The government of the island has always been by chiefs and chiefesses, no distinction of sex being made in laws of inheritance, the eldest born inheriting the rank and estates and all the authority which the title of chief conveys. Many of the chiefesses appear to have been exceedingly warlike, true Amazons, contending with neighboring chiefs for more authority and extensive possessions. Even as wives of the chiefs, women went to war to help fight the battles of their husbands and clans. It is reported of one of the Pomares who was of a peaceful disposition that in one hotly contested encounter he fled to a neighboring island, leaving his wife Iddeah to face the storm. History says that she was a great warrior and carried the contest to a successful issue for her husband and their possessions. It is recorded of another chief that he was not a warrior and left the active campaigning to his wife. So it will be seen that in the political life of Tahiti sex was not considered. Accident of birth settled the title, and the warlike spirit miade the warrior, whether it resided in chief or chiefess. England took a hand in the island politics at a time when one of the weakest and most unpopular chiefs was warring for the supremacy, and by assisting and upholding his authority prolonged one of the most disastrous wars in the history of Tahiti. The Tahitians detested tyranny and the insolence of a single ruler, and in their tribal system of chiefs had a protection against despotism which the foreigners, by their advocacy of the cause of a special chief, afterwards Pomare I., destroyed.Before the invasion of the English, the hereditary chief of each district held absolute sway in his own province. Questions of common interest were settled in the island councils by majority vote, and it was in these deliberations that the chiefs of Papara had for generations held the balance of political power. Politically, the change was disastrous. In olden times whenever a single chief became arrogant and threatened to destroy the rest, all the others united to overthrow him and thus re-established the political equilibrium.Ariitaimai belonged to the Clan of Tevas, of the chiefery of Papara, and the family of Tati. She belonged to the clan which was ruled by Opuhara, the last of the heathen chiefs who went down in the conflict with Pomare II., who with the help of English guns was made absolute monarch of the island. This conflict between Opuhara and the English, because Pomare was only an instrument in their hands to accomplish the conquest of the island, is responsible for the bitter hatred of the genuine natives for the foreigners and the missionaries.Opuhara was considered the greatest warrior and hero of the Tevas, and his death, the result of a stratagem on the part of Pomare and the English missionaries, is considered by his people a veritable assassination. He fell by a shot fired by a native missionary convert. Tati, one of the under-chiefs of Papara, had been persuaded by the English to approach Opuhara to negotiate with him for submission. But Opuhara turned on him with scorn. "Go, traitor," he said; "shame on you! you, whom I knew as my eldest brother, I know no more; and to-day I call this my spear, 'Ourihere,' brotherless. Beware of it, for if it meet you hereafter, it meets you as a foe. I, Opuhara, have stood as Arii in Mona Temaiti, bowing to no other Gods but those of my fathers. There I shall stand to the end; and never shall I bow to Pomara or to the Gods forced on us by the white-faced man." With Opuhara perished the last hope of the native patriots to preserve a government of chiefs. His dying words were all that was left to his clan of the glory and power of Papara. "My children, fight to the last! It is noon, and I, Opuhara, thetiof Mona Temaiti, am broken asunder!" He fell a martyr to his belief in the heathen gods, and in the ancient inherited rights of his people: a tribal government. His followers have always firmly believed that Opuhara would have won the contest had not the missionaries brought their guns along with their Bibles.It was this belief that Ariitaimai inherited with the beautiful lands of Papara. She says in her memoirs: "I am told that Opuhara's spear, 'Brotherless Ourihere,' is now in the Museum of the Louvre. Even in those days there were among all his warriors only two who could wield it. If the missionaries have sometimes doubted whether the natives rightly understood the truths and blessings of Christianity, perhaps one reason may be that the Tevas remember how the missionaries fought for Pomare and killed Opuhara."Marama, the mother of Ariitaimai, was a celebrated chiefess in her own right, the sole heir of Marama, the head chief of Moorea, the nearest island to Tahiti. She was a great heiress, and the last representative of the sacred families of these two islands. She was given in marriage, as a political compromise and at the special request of King Pomare, to Tati's son, the head chief of Tahiti. It was also agreed that all issue of the marriage should become the adopted children of Pomare, according to an ancient Tahitian custom. The family is a great institution in Tahiti and any one whose parents both by birth and adoption had been carried to the family Marae with offerings to the gods, enjoyed a rare social distinction. This Ariitaimai could claim, so from her birth she was looked upon by the islanders as an especially favored and much-to-be-treasured maiden. It may be that this great respect shown towards her by the entire people did much to mold her character. The Tahitian mother has little to say in regard to the training of her first-born, as this one is considered to belong to the family as a whole, and all questions of general interest are settled in family council. And so it was with Ariitaimai. She saw little of her mother, but was in constant touch with the family chiefs from whom, no doubt, she learned lessons in diplomacy, and from listening to their councils she acquired that rare good judgment which fitted her later to be the accepted advisor of her teachers. She mastered both the French and the English languages, and her memoirs show a wonderful knowledge of the literature of both countries, as well as a wide and comprehensive reading of classical authors. While Ariitaimai was growing to womanhood, the pride and special care of the chiefs of Papara, another maiden was receiving equal care and attention on a neighboring island. Aimata of Raiatea, the daughter of Pomare II., was only nine years old when her father died and she was given into the care of the head chief Uata, who was a good and learned man.MASKED WARRIORSANCIENT MASKED WARRIORSThese two young girls who were destined to play such an important rôle in the history of their country, grew up under much the same influences and developed characters as widely different as the antipodes. They saw each other only occasionally until Aimata's mother sent one day for Ariitaimai to make a long visit at the royal castle, as was the custom among the islanders, as Pomare had claimed her as his adopted daughter according to the ante-natal contract. Here blossomed and grew the friendship which was destined later to save to Pomare IV. her throne, and to deliver Tahiti from a war which could only have resulted in the extermination of the native population and the destruction of the island as an independent government. The real struggle between France and England for the possession of the island began in 1836, when two French priests landed at Tahiti to convert not the pagans to Christianity but Protestant Christians to the Roman faith. Aimata now become Pomare IV., promptly ordered their arrest and expulsion. The French priests made a protest to their government and Louis Philippe sent a frigate to Papeete, the harbor city, with an ultimatum, and the Queen was obliged to yield. The English consul and the missionaries contested the occupation of the French, and another frigate was sent to Tahiti. Queen Pomare now appealed to Queen Victoria and offered to submit to a British protectorate. She also sent a protest to the government of the United States, against allowing the French to forcibly occupy Tahiti. But the English Queen was busy with more important home affairs, and neglected the appeal from the little island so far away, and the protest to the United States was apparently ignored. By a lack of appreciation of the Queen's communication, the United States lost the control of the gem of all the Pacific isles, and lost also a rare opportunity to aid and protect a brave people in their struggle for independence. This attitude of England and the United States left the contest to be settled between the natives and the French. After a desultory war lasting over four long, miserable years, with the advantage first on one side and then on the other, the French government decided to end the matter and sent two frigates to the island. The government had offered previously to this to place Pomare permanently on the throne under a French protectorate, but she would not consent to this, looking constantly for help from the English who had done so much for her father. So she left Tahiti, the scene of the contest, and fled to Raiatea to her own family for protection, while waiting for the help which never came.Ariitaimai, in her own beautiful home at Papara, pondered over the wretched state of her beloved country and her heart was sore both for her idolized friend and poor bleeding Tahiti. Was there no way out of this Slough of Despond into which the foreigners had plunged her unhappy country? She knew the temper of the island chiefs and that they had sworn to die fighting for the independence of their country. She remembered the fate of Tati, who had been branded a traitor with Opuhara's last breath because he counseled submission to the English, and she dared not propose to them any compromising measures. She looked out despairingly over the trackless sea, and appealingly up at the towering mountains which had been her companions during prosperity and adversity, but no answer came to her anxious questionings. Then suddenly, one day, word was brought to her by an old woman of her clan that two French frigates had landed in the harbor of Tahiti. She knew this meant the end, unless Queen Pomare could be persuaded to return to Tahiti and accept the offer of the French. The old crone who had brought her the news said to her: "Don't you know that you are the first in the Island, and that it remains in your hands to save all this and your land?" Then Ariitaimai hesitated no longer, but hastened to the governor and told him what she had heard. He replied: "You have heard the truth. The colonel commanding the troops has heard of so many instances of insult given to the French that we have decided at last to go out and finish up the affair." This brusque answer aroused in Ariitaimai all the stored-up energy of years. She became immediately the diplomatic representative of her people, and begged the governor to give her a few days that she might see the chiefs and make at least an effort to avert the terrible havoc to lives and property which this would cause. Ariitaimai was well known to the governor, and although evidently amused that a young woman should take upon herself this difficult task, readily consented. Like two generals they sat down and talked over all the terms of the peace; the governor agreeing to restore Pomare to her throne if she would return immediately, and to leave the chiefs in possession of their estates and control each of his own chiefery, all to be under the protection of the French flag. This, he said, they were willing to do, although the Queen had broken her written agreement with them, and by deserting her country and throne had absolved them from all obligations to her. Before the conclusion of the interview Ariitaimai had won the respect and admiration of the governor, and from that time on they worked together to bring about a peaceable settlement of the long and disastrous war. The journey which she was obliged to make in order to meet the chiefs in council was a long one, and while she was making her preparations the governor's own aid-de-camp arrived ready to accompany her, bringing the governor's horses and all necessary passports. She says in her memoirs: "I knew that my influence with the natives would be sufficient to save us from any trouble with them." Arrived at last at the principal native fort where the chiefs were assembled, her first act showed her the accomplished diplomat. She sent a trusty messenger for Nuutere, the one whose influence against peace she most feared, and who with the other chief, Teaatoro, practically controlled the situation. When he came out to see her she took him by the hand and said: "My object in coming here is to bring peace, and I have counted on you for the sake of old friendship to be my speaker in this trying instance." She quaintly adds: "He was very much perplexed at this," evidently not understanding why she could not speak for herself as she had often done before. But to her surprise Ariitaimai found the old chief very much broken in spirit and quite ready to listen to her arguments for peace, and she soon had his promise to speak for the acceptance of the governor's proposition. Human nature is very much the same the world over, whether encased in a brown skin or white. Nuutere called Teaatoro to him, and, after a hasty consultation, came over and whispered to Ariitaimai that Teaatoro would be all right. This practically settled the matter, but as in all political assemblies the usual formalities must be gone through with and Nuutere called upon each one of the chiefs for his opinion. The speakers all teemed with love and admiration for my heroine and I can not refrain from making some quotations. Nuutere, after stating the object of the meeting, called upon Teaatoro to make the first speech. He said: "We are all as one person in this meeting, and we have suffered together as brothers. We have heard what the object of this lone woman's visit amongst us is, solely for our good and that of our children. What can we say to this? We can only return her one answer, which is to thank her for the trouble and danger she has taken upon herself, for the peace she has brought, and she must return to the French commander with this our answer. We have been five months on the point of starvation. We lost a great many of our men at Tamavao. The best of our blood was spilled at Mahaena. At Piha-e-atata, our young men were slain. Our Queen left us in the midst of our troubles without the least sorrow for us. We have heard no more of the help which was promised us by Great Britain." Another chief rose and said: "Ariitaimai, you have flown amongst us, as it were, like the two birds of Ruataa and Teena. You have brought the cooling medicine of vainu into the hearts of the chiefs. Our hearts yearn for you and we can not in words thank you; you have brought us the best of all goods, which is peace. You have done this when you thought we were in great trouble, and ran the risk of losing our lives and property. Your people will prove to you in the future that your visit will always remain in their memory." The old chief of her own district turned toward Ariitaimai and said only: "As you are my head, my eyes, my hands and my feet, what more can I say? What you have decided we accept and will carry out." One dissenting voice only was heard, a young chief who had but lately come into his possessions and was anxious to distinguish himself as a warrior. He called out in a loud voice: "Why have you decided upon this peace so soon? Tahiti is not broken asunder. We could play with the French until we could get aid of Great Britain, who has formally promised to help us through in this war. I think you have all done wrong." But the young man had his lesson to learn and it was promptly taught him by Ariitaimai's spokesman. The spirit of young America is not appreciated in Tahiti, where reverence for age and worship of the ancestors is a vital part of the native pagan religion. Nuutere turned on the young man and asked: "Where were you, that consider yourself such a fighting man, in the fights which have already happened? I have never perceived you ahead of the others. You do not excel the youngest of our men in all of these battles. What are you known as in the annals of the country which allows you to get up and speak when your chiefs have already given the word?" Ariitaimai set out immediately on her return trip, this time escorted by ten of the chiefs. Although they made all possible haste the time had already expired before they reached the governor's headquarters, and preparations were being made to attack one of the native forts, the officers having concluded that her errand had been a failure. The governor, seeing her at a distance, rode out to meet her and helped her from her horse. He asked her anxiously in Tahitian, "Is it peace?" and she replied that it was peace and that everything was all right with the chiefs. He held her hand as he said with great feeling: "The Tahitians should never forget you; but your work is not finished. You must now go to Raiatea and bring us back the Queen." So Ariitaimai started on her second and more difficult errand. At first Queen Pomare refused to receive her, sending word that she was told that she had gone over to the French; but later she granted her an interview in which she cried very much, upbraiding her friend for the stand she had taken, and accusing her of betraying her interests to the French.The Queen then sent for the chiefs of her own family with whom she had taken refuge, and, after a prolonged conference, they advised her not to return. She said to Ariitaimai: "I trust to the word of Great Britain, who has promised us to send ships and men to fight our cause and to keep us an independent state, and I will not return and be under the French." So after repeated pleading poor Ariitaimai was obliged to return to the governor with Pomare's answer. He was much disappointed but said as the chiefs of Tahiti had agreed to peace and as he had nothing to do with the chiefs of Raiatea they must decide on another monarch, and offered to make Ariitaimai queen of Tahiti in Pomare's place. But this the faithful friend would not listen to, and begged the governor to allow her again to see Pomare, as she believed that when she had had time to think the matter over she would change her mind. To this the governor very reluctantly consented, as he was entirely out of patience with Pomare, and would much have preferred to make Ariitaimai queen, which could have been done with great propriety, as she was at that time the head chiefess of the island. After a stormy trip she arrived again at Raiatea and this time was fortunate enough to find her friend Aimata alone, the chiefs having gone to an assembly to consult over the affairs of their own island. This time our faithful ambassadress did not hasten her visit. She renewed and strengthened the ties of friendship which had bound them together since their early girlhood, and she records in her memoirs that they had a beautiful visit together before any mention was made of the real object of her coming. The charming way in which she speaks in her memoirs of Pomare's flight shows the tenderness of her affection for her friend. She says, calling her by her girlhood name: "The unfortunate Aimata had troubles of every sort, domestic, political, private and public, until at last the missionaries English and French, fought so violently for control of her and the island that she was fairly driven away." With all her acuteness and learning in other matters, she seems to have had no realization of the true character of the woman she so beautifully idealized. She still saw in the Queen the qualities she loved in the young girl, and her affection blinded her to the defects in her friend's character which entirely unfitted her for the position she occupied. Events do not move as rapidly in Tahiti as in America, and our young diplomat, having the governor's promise to await her return, took her own time. She remained with the Queen two months and had the satisfaction of returning home with her promise to sail for Tahiti as soon as her favorite schooner Ana could be made ready. But, before sailing, another idea took possession of the unreasonable woman and she sent word to the Tahitian chiefs that as the English had brought her to Raiatea she would return only in an English ship, and demanded that one be sent to fetch her.This unexpected and preposterous demand plunged poor Ariitaimai into the deepest grief. For the first time a note of complaint of her friend appears in her memoirs. The French governor laughed at the demands of Pomare and again offered the throne to Ariitaimai, and argued long to prove to her that it was her duty to accept it. Where in history is the woman who would not now have felt that she had exhausted all the demands of friendship, who would not by this time have been tempted by the dazzling prospect of a throne, upheld by a powerful governor who had become her devoted friend and admirer, to be surrounded by chiefs who had already accepted her leadership, and who, for years, had held her position among them as chief ess as a sacred trust? But no ambitious dreams disturbed the clear judgment of this simple-minded woman. She had set herself a task and her only ambition was to accomplish it. Not for one moment did the loyal woman waver in her devotion to her friend. She refused absolutely to entertain a thought of the queenship, and retired to her country home almost in despair. She says very simply in her memoirs: "We then remained at home in great trouble and did not know what was to be done next. The governor on several occasions offered to make me the sovereign of the island in place of Pomare, which, however, I could not entertain." It is in this simple and childlike manner she describes all the events in this perplexing situation. Not by one word does she anywhere intimate that she is doing anything extraordinary or praiseworthy or more than her simple duty.She was not allowed to remain long inactive. Word came to her that the governor and chiefs were getting very restless and impatient at the unsettled state of the island politics and had decided not to negotiate further with the Pomares; and, moreover, that a document to this effect had been already drawn up and practically agreed upon. This roused her again to see the governor; and this time Fate put a powerful weapon in her hands. Just as she was leaving her home an old native preacher came along and secretly gave her a letter from her beloved Aimata. She wrote that she was sorry that she had not come back when she promised, that she was much distressed at the news from Tahiti, that she was an unhappy woman and, if not too late, she would surely come back if her faithful friend would come for her. Happy Ariitaimai fairly flew to the governor. What after all if it should be too late! She had never gone to the governor with so much fear and trepidation, and her fears were in no way lessened by his reception of her request that she be allowed to go once more to Raiatea and make a last effort to bring back the Queen. This request for the first time irritated the governor toward her. He said: "Have you not done enough for the Pomares that you should continue to go down to fetch them?" and he showed her the document which she had heard of but which was much worse than she supposed, as it proposed to break up the act of protectorate that had been already made and distinctly stated that as Ariitalmai had refused to be made queen he would make the island a French colony at once. But with that precious letter in her bosom she would not be thwarted in her purpose, and did not leave the governor until she had received his very grudging permission to see Pomare and, if she consented to return, to take her to Moorea and let him know. With this she was obliged to be contented. More she could not accomplish without divulging the secret of her letter, and this, she argued, would be disloyal to her friend; for was it not a secret letter sent to her at great risk? No, she would accomplish her purpose without humiliating her Queen. Pomare should return at the request of the governor without losing aught of her queenly dignity.And now this little drama draws rapidly to a close. Ariitaimai made her third trip to Raiatea and accompanied Pomare to Moorea, and sent word to the governor that he would find them there. Obedient to this gently expressed command of his ambassadress, the governor very courteously went to Moorea in person to receive the Queen and bring her back to her home and throne. In the same dispassionate style Ariitaimai tells of the homeward journey: "As we all went on board a salute was fired. We sailed around the island, flying the protectorate flag at the fore, to inform the people of these islands that their Queen had returned. We then continued our route for Papeete and on arriving there the forts from the shore saluted the flag." But O! the irony of Fate! As they entered the harbor what a sight met the eyes of the poor Queen! Both British and American ships were anchored there, having come at last in answer to her appeals, but only in time to see her placed on her throne by the grace of the hated French, But peace had been bought too dearly to be broken now even by this vacillating queen, and the British and American officers, seeing the situation, had the good sense to assist in the general festivities celebrating the long-looked-for peace. The memoirs conclude with this simple statement: "The Queen remained several hours on board the steamer as the governor wished the natives to see that the Queen had really come back. There were soldiers in line on shore to receive us and we were conducted to the governor's house. The peace of the island was then decided upon. On arriving at the governor's house we found all the commanders of the troops and vessels there and before them I was thanked by Governor Bruat for what I had done for my country."When a world of menCould not prevail with all their oratoryYet hath a woman's kindness overruled.SHAKESPEARE.

I wish peace, and any terms preferBefore the last extremities of war.DRYDEN.

I wish peace, and any terms prefer

Before the last extremities of war.

DRYDEN.

In one of the far-off isles of the South Seas, in the garden-spot of the Pacific, in golden Tahiti, about the year 1848, when Victoria was a young queen and mother, when France was in the throes of a second revolution, when the United States, a young republic, was still on trial before the old world, there was enacted one of the most touching dramas history has ever recorded, and this among a people considered savages by the so-called civilized world, and almost unknown until discovered through the missionary fervor of a few priests. The place, a small island, only a speck on the map; thedramatis personæ, France, England and America, the hereditary chiefs of a people who for forty generations had known no other rulers, a weak, vacillating native queen, and a noble-hearted native woman who knew how to be at the same time a loyal subject, a skilled diplomat, and that rarer and more beautiful thing, a faithful friend. If you would hear a story of friendship pure and undefiled, listen to the story of Ariitaimai of Papara, a Tahitian of noble birth, a child of Nature in its wildest and grandest aspect, rocked in a gigantic cradle of sea, sky and towering mountains, in a land of palm forests, where Nature has provided everything necessary to the life of her children, and where the pearls are the purest. If Cicero had known the story of Ariitaimai he would not have written inDe Amicitia:"But where will you find one who will not prefer to friendship, public honors and power, one who will prefer the advancement of his friend in public office to his own? For human nature is too weak to despise power." But to understand this thrilling and eventful drama, we must listen first to the chorus reciting something of the history of this strange people, and of the position of woman in a land where suffrage societies are unknown, and where the story of the inequality of the sexes had never been told by book or priest. Tahiti, Matea and Moorea are known as the Windward Islands of the Society Group in the South Seas. The Leeward Islands comprise the four kingdoms, Huahine, Borabora, Raiatea and Tahaa, together with some smaller islands, and are about one hundred and twenty miles from Tahiti. But it has always been in Tahiti, the gem of the Pacific, that the interest has been centered, and it was here that the struggle took place between the English and the French for supremacy in the South Seas.

It was in 1769 that Captain Cook entered Matavai Bay on his first voyage to observe the transit of Venus. This spot is marked by a stone monument and has been known ever since as Point Venus. At this time Cook estimated the number of inhabitants at two hundred thousand. To-day, after the long contention between the French and English for supremacy, after the brave struggle of the natives against both for independence, after all the ravages made by the diseases introduced by foreigners, and after years of a fearful mortality caused by the enervating effect of civilization upon a people suited only to be children of Nature, this goodly number has been reduced to a pitiful eleven thousand. In fact, our so-called nineteenth century civilization has succeeded in practically exterminating a people who could produce a pearl among womankind, a rare and tender soul, such an one as English history does not give us, and France has produced but one, her own Jeanne D'Arc.

The government of the island has always been by chiefs and chiefesses, no distinction of sex being made in laws of inheritance, the eldest born inheriting the rank and estates and all the authority which the title of chief conveys. Many of the chiefesses appear to have been exceedingly warlike, true Amazons, contending with neighboring chiefs for more authority and extensive possessions. Even as wives of the chiefs, women went to war to help fight the battles of their husbands and clans. It is reported of one of the Pomares who was of a peaceful disposition that in one hotly contested encounter he fled to a neighboring island, leaving his wife Iddeah to face the storm. History says that she was a great warrior and carried the contest to a successful issue for her husband and their possessions. It is recorded of another chief that he was not a warrior and left the active campaigning to his wife. So it will be seen that in the political life of Tahiti sex was not considered. Accident of birth settled the title, and the warlike spirit miade the warrior, whether it resided in chief or chiefess. England took a hand in the island politics at a time when one of the weakest and most unpopular chiefs was warring for the supremacy, and by assisting and upholding his authority prolonged one of the most disastrous wars in the history of Tahiti. The Tahitians detested tyranny and the insolence of a single ruler, and in their tribal system of chiefs had a protection against despotism which the foreigners, by their advocacy of the cause of a special chief, afterwards Pomare I., destroyed.

Before the invasion of the English, the hereditary chief of each district held absolute sway in his own province. Questions of common interest were settled in the island councils by majority vote, and it was in these deliberations that the chiefs of Papara had for generations held the balance of political power. Politically, the change was disastrous. In olden times whenever a single chief became arrogant and threatened to destroy the rest, all the others united to overthrow him and thus re-established the political equilibrium.

Ariitaimai belonged to the Clan of Tevas, of the chiefery of Papara, and the family of Tati. She belonged to the clan which was ruled by Opuhara, the last of the heathen chiefs who went down in the conflict with Pomare II., who with the help of English guns was made absolute monarch of the island. This conflict between Opuhara and the English, because Pomare was only an instrument in their hands to accomplish the conquest of the island, is responsible for the bitter hatred of the genuine natives for the foreigners and the missionaries.

Opuhara was considered the greatest warrior and hero of the Tevas, and his death, the result of a stratagem on the part of Pomare and the English missionaries, is considered by his people a veritable assassination. He fell by a shot fired by a native missionary convert. Tati, one of the under-chiefs of Papara, had been persuaded by the English to approach Opuhara to negotiate with him for submission. But Opuhara turned on him with scorn. "Go, traitor," he said; "shame on you! you, whom I knew as my eldest brother, I know no more; and to-day I call this my spear, 'Ourihere,' brotherless. Beware of it, for if it meet you hereafter, it meets you as a foe. I, Opuhara, have stood as Arii in Mona Temaiti, bowing to no other Gods but those of my fathers. There I shall stand to the end; and never shall I bow to Pomara or to the Gods forced on us by the white-faced man." With Opuhara perished the last hope of the native patriots to preserve a government of chiefs. His dying words were all that was left to his clan of the glory and power of Papara. "My children, fight to the last! It is noon, and I, Opuhara, thetiof Mona Temaiti, am broken asunder!" He fell a martyr to his belief in the heathen gods, and in the ancient inherited rights of his people: a tribal government. His followers have always firmly believed that Opuhara would have won the contest had not the missionaries brought their guns along with their Bibles.

It was this belief that Ariitaimai inherited with the beautiful lands of Papara. She says in her memoirs: "I am told that Opuhara's spear, 'Brotherless Ourihere,' is now in the Museum of the Louvre. Even in those days there were among all his warriors only two who could wield it. If the missionaries have sometimes doubted whether the natives rightly understood the truths and blessings of Christianity, perhaps one reason may be that the Tevas remember how the missionaries fought for Pomare and killed Opuhara."

Marama, the mother of Ariitaimai, was a celebrated chiefess in her own right, the sole heir of Marama, the head chief of Moorea, the nearest island to Tahiti. She was a great heiress, and the last representative of the sacred families of these two islands. She was given in marriage, as a political compromise and at the special request of King Pomare, to Tati's son, the head chief of Tahiti. It was also agreed that all issue of the marriage should become the adopted children of Pomare, according to an ancient Tahitian custom. The family is a great institution in Tahiti and any one whose parents both by birth and adoption had been carried to the family Marae with offerings to the gods, enjoyed a rare social distinction. This Ariitaimai could claim, so from her birth she was looked upon by the islanders as an especially favored and much-to-be-treasured maiden. It may be that this great respect shown towards her by the entire people did much to mold her character. The Tahitian mother has little to say in regard to the training of her first-born, as this one is considered to belong to the family as a whole, and all questions of general interest are settled in family council. And so it was with Ariitaimai. She saw little of her mother, but was in constant touch with the family chiefs from whom, no doubt, she learned lessons in diplomacy, and from listening to their councils she acquired that rare good judgment which fitted her later to be the accepted advisor of her teachers. She mastered both the French and the English languages, and her memoirs show a wonderful knowledge of the literature of both countries, as well as a wide and comprehensive reading of classical authors. While Ariitaimai was growing to womanhood, the pride and special care of the chiefs of Papara, another maiden was receiving equal care and attention on a neighboring island. Aimata of Raiatea, the daughter of Pomare II., was only nine years old when her father died and she was given into the care of the head chief Uata, who was a good and learned man.

MASKED WARRIORSANCIENT MASKED WARRIORS

ANCIENT MASKED WARRIORS

These two young girls who were destined to play such an important rôle in the history of their country, grew up under much the same influences and developed characters as widely different as the antipodes. They saw each other only occasionally until Aimata's mother sent one day for Ariitaimai to make a long visit at the royal castle, as was the custom among the islanders, as Pomare had claimed her as his adopted daughter according to the ante-natal contract. Here blossomed and grew the friendship which was destined later to save to Pomare IV. her throne, and to deliver Tahiti from a war which could only have resulted in the extermination of the native population and the destruction of the island as an independent government. The real struggle between France and England for the possession of the island began in 1836, when two French priests landed at Tahiti to convert not the pagans to Christianity but Protestant Christians to the Roman faith. Aimata now become Pomare IV., promptly ordered their arrest and expulsion. The French priests made a protest to their government and Louis Philippe sent a frigate to Papeete, the harbor city, with an ultimatum, and the Queen was obliged to yield. The English consul and the missionaries contested the occupation of the French, and another frigate was sent to Tahiti. Queen Pomare now appealed to Queen Victoria and offered to submit to a British protectorate. She also sent a protest to the government of the United States, against allowing the French to forcibly occupy Tahiti. But the English Queen was busy with more important home affairs, and neglected the appeal from the little island so far away, and the protest to the United States was apparently ignored. By a lack of appreciation of the Queen's communication, the United States lost the control of the gem of all the Pacific isles, and lost also a rare opportunity to aid and protect a brave people in their struggle for independence. This attitude of England and the United States left the contest to be settled between the natives and the French. After a desultory war lasting over four long, miserable years, with the advantage first on one side and then on the other, the French government decided to end the matter and sent two frigates to the island. The government had offered previously to this to place Pomare permanently on the throne under a French protectorate, but she would not consent to this, looking constantly for help from the English who had done so much for her father. So she left Tahiti, the scene of the contest, and fled to Raiatea to her own family for protection, while waiting for the help which never came.

Ariitaimai, in her own beautiful home at Papara, pondered over the wretched state of her beloved country and her heart was sore both for her idolized friend and poor bleeding Tahiti. Was there no way out of this Slough of Despond into which the foreigners had plunged her unhappy country? She knew the temper of the island chiefs and that they had sworn to die fighting for the independence of their country. She remembered the fate of Tati, who had been branded a traitor with Opuhara's last breath because he counseled submission to the English, and she dared not propose to them any compromising measures. She looked out despairingly over the trackless sea, and appealingly up at the towering mountains which had been her companions during prosperity and adversity, but no answer came to her anxious questionings. Then suddenly, one day, word was brought to her by an old woman of her clan that two French frigates had landed in the harbor of Tahiti. She knew this meant the end, unless Queen Pomare could be persuaded to return to Tahiti and accept the offer of the French. The old crone who had brought her the news said to her: "Don't you know that you are the first in the Island, and that it remains in your hands to save all this and your land?" Then Ariitaimai hesitated no longer, but hastened to the governor and told him what she had heard. He replied: "You have heard the truth. The colonel commanding the troops has heard of so many instances of insult given to the French that we have decided at last to go out and finish up the affair." This brusque answer aroused in Ariitaimai all the stored-up energy of years. She became immediately the diplomatic representative of her people, and begged the governor to give her a few days that she might see the chiefs and make at least an effort to avert the terrible havoc to lives and property which this would cause. Ariitaimai was well known to the governor, and although evidently amused that a young woman should take upon herself this difficult task, readily consented. Like two generals they sat down and talked over all the terms of the peace; the governor agreeing to restore Pomare to her throne if she would return immediately, and to leave the chiefs in possession of their estates and control each of his own chiefery, all to be under the protection of the French flag. This, he said, they were willing to do, although the Queen had broken her written agreement with them, and by deserting her country and throne had absolved them from all obligations to her. Before the conclusion of the interview Ariitaimai had won the respect and admiration of the governor, and from that time on they worked together to bring about a peaceable settlement of the long and disastrous war. The journey which she was obliged to make in order to meet the chiefs in council was a long one, and while she was making her preparations the governor's own aid-de-camp arrived ready to accompany her, bringing the governor's horses and all necessary passports. She says in her memoirs: "I knew that my influence with the natives would be sufficient to save us from any trouble with them." Arrived at last at the principal native fort where the chiefs were assembled, her first act showed her the accomplished diplomat. She sent a trusty messenger for Nuutere, the one whose influence against peace she most feared, and who with the other chief, Teaatoro, practically controlled the situation. When he came out to see her she took him by the hand and said: "My object in coming here is to bring peace, and I have counted on you for the sake of old friendship to be my speaker in this trying instance." She quaintly adds: "He was very much perplexed at this," evidently not understanding why she could not speak for herself as she had often done before. But to her surprise Ariitaimai found the old chief very much broken in spirit and quite ready to listen to her arguments for peace, and she soon had his promise to speak for the acceptance of the governor's proposition. Human nature is very much the same the world over, whether encased in a brown skin or white. Nuutere called Teaatoro to him, and, after a hasty consultation, came over and whispered to Ariitaimai that Teaatoro would be all right. This practically settled the matter, but as in all political assemblies the usual formalities must be gone through with and Nuutere called upon each one of the chiefs for his opinion. The speakers all teemed with love and admiration for my heroine and I can not refrain from making some quotations. Nuutere, after stating the object of the meeting, called upon Teaatoro to make the first speech. He said: "We are all as one person in this meeting, and we have suffered together as brothers. We have heard what the object of this lone woman's visit amongst us is, solely for our good and that of our children. What can we say to this? We can only return her one answer, which is to thank her for the trouble and danger she has taken upon herself, for the peace she has brought, and she must return to the French commander with this our answer. We have been five months on the point of starvation. We lost a great many of our men at Tamavao. The best of our blood was spilled at Mahaena. At Piha-e-atata, our young men were slain. Our Queen left us in the midst of our troubles without the least sorrow for us. We have heard no more of the help which was promised us by Great Britain." Another chief rose and said: "Ariitaimai, you have flown amongst us, as it were, like the two birds of Ruataa and Teena. You have brought the cooling medicine of vainu into the hearts of the chiefs. Our hearts yearn for you and we can not in words thank you; you have brought us the best of all goods, which is peace. You have done this when you thought we were in great trouble, and ran the risk of losing our lives and property. Your people will prove to you in the future that your visit will always remain in their memory." The old chief of her own district turned toward Ariitaimai and said only: "As you are my head, my eyes, my hands and my feet, what more can I say? What you have decided we accept and will carry out." One dissenting voice only was heard, a young chief who had but lately come into his possessions and was anxious to distinguish himself as a warrior. He called out in a loud voice: "Why have you decided upon this peace so soon? Tahiti is not broken asunder. We could play with the French until we could get aid of Great Britain, who has formally promised to help us through in this war. I think you have all done wrong." But the young man had his lesson to learn and it was promptly taught him by Ariitaimai's spokesman. The spirit of young America is not appreciated in Tahiti, where reverence for age and worship of the ancestors is a vital part of the native pagan religion. Nuutere turned on the young man and asked: "Where were you, that consider yourself such a fighting man, in the fights which have already happened? I have never perceived you ahead of the others. You do not excel the youngest of our men in all of these battles. What are you known as in the annals of the country which allows you to get up and speak when your chiefs have already given the word?" Ariitaimai set out immediately on her return trip, this time escorted by ten of the chiefs. Although they made all possible haste the time had already expired before they reached the governor's headquarters, and preparations were being made to attack one of the native forts, the officers having concluded that her errand had been a failure. The governor, seeing her at a distance, rode out to meet her and helped her from her horse. He asked her anxiously in Tahitian, "Is it peace?" and she replied that it was peace and that everything was all right with the chiefs. He held her hand as he said with great feeling: "The Tahitians should never forget you; but your work is not finished. You must now go to Raiatea and bring us back the Queen." So Ariitaimai started on her second and more difficult errand. At first Queen Pomare refused to receive her, sending word that she was told that she had gone over to the French; but later she granted her an interview in which she cried very much, upbraiding her friend for the stand she had taken, and accusing her of betraying her interests to the French.

The Queen then sent for the chiefs of her own family with whom she had taken refuge, and, after a prolonged conference, they advised her not to return. She said to Ariitaimai: "I trust to the word of Great Britain, who has promised us to send ships and men to fight our cause and to keep us an independent state, and I will not return and be under the French." So after repeated pleading poor Ariitaimai was obliged to return to the governor with Pomare's answer. He was much disappointed but said as the chiefs of Tahiti had agreed to peace and as he had nothing to do with the chiefs of Raiatea they must decide on another monarch, and offered to make Ariitaimai queen of Tahiti in Pomare's place. But this the faithful friend would not listen to, and begged the governor to allow her again to see Pomare, as she believed that when she had had time to think the matter over she would change her mind. To this the governor very reluctantly consented, as he was entirely out of patience with Pomare, and would much have preferred to make Ariitaimai queen, which could have been done with great propriety, as she was at that time the head chiefess of the island. After a stormy trip she arrived again at Raiatea and this time was fortunate enough to find her friend Aimata alone, the chiefs having gone to an assembly to consult over the affairs of their own island. This time our faithful ambassadress did not hasten her visit. She renewed and strengthened the ties of friendship which had bound them together since their early girlhood, and she records in her memoirs that they had a beautiful visit together before any mention was made of the real object of her coming. The charming way in which she speaks in her memoirs of Pomare's flight shows the tenderness of her affection for her friend. She says, calling her by her girlhood name: "The unfortunate Aimata had troubles of every sort, domestic, political, private and public, until at last the missionaries English and French, fought so violently for control of her and the island that she was fairly driven away." With all her acuteness and learning in other matters, she seems to have had no realization of the true character of the woman she so beautifully idealized. She still saw in the Queen the qualities she loved in the young girl, and her affection blinded her to the defects in her friend's character which entirely unfitted her for the position she occupied. Events do not move as rapidly in Tahiti as in America, and our young diplomat, having the governor's promise to await her return, took her own time. She remained with the Queen two months and had the satisfaction of returning home with her promise to sail for Tahiti as soon as her favorite schooner Ana could be made ready. But, before sailing, another idea took possession of the unreasonable woman and she sent word to the Tahitian chiefs that as the English had brought her to Raiatea she would return only in an English ship, and demanded that one be sent to fetch her.

This unexpected and preposterous demand plunged poor Ariitaimai into the deepest grief. For the first time a note of complaint of her friend appears in her memoirs. The French governor laughed at the demands of Pomare and again offered the throne to Ariitaimai, and argued long to prove to her that it was her duty to accept it. Where in history is the woman who would not now have felt that she had exhausted all the demands of friendship, who would not by this time have been tempted by the dazzling prospect of a throne, upheld by a powerful governor who had become her devoted friend and admirer, to be surrounded by chiefs who had already accepted her leadership, and who, for years, had held her position among them as chief ess as a sacred trust? But no ambitious dreams disturbed the clear judgment of this simple-minded woman. She had set herself a task and her only ambition was to accomplish it. Not for one moment did the loyal woman waver in her devotion to her friend. She refused absolutely to entertain a thought of the queenship, and retired to her country home almost in despair. She says very simply in her memoirs: "We then remained at home in great trouble and did not know what was to be done next. The governor on several occasions offered to make me the sovereign of the island in place of Pomare, which, however, I could not entertain." It is in this simple and childlike manner she describes all the events in this perplexing situation. Not by one word does she anywhere intimate that she is doing anything extraordinary or praiseworthy or more than her simple duty.

She was not allowed to remain long inactive. Word came to her that the governor and chiefs were getting very restless and impatient at the unsettled state of the island politics and had decided not to negotiate further with the Pomares; and, moreover, that a document to this effect had been already drawn up and practically agreed upon. This roused her again to see the governor; and this time Fate put a powerful weapon in her hands. Just as she was leaving her home an old native preacher came along and secretly gave her a letter from her beloved Aimata. She wrote that she was sorry that she had not come back when she promised, that she was much distressed at the news from Tahiti, that she was an unhappy woman and, if not too late, she would surely come back if her faithful friend would come for her. Happy Ariitaimai fairly flew to the governor. What after all if it should be too late! She had never gone to the governor with so much fear and trepidation, and her fears were in no way lessened by his reception of her request that she be allowed to go once more to Raiatea and make a last effort to bring back the Queen. This request for the first time irritated the governor toward her. He said: "Have you not done enough for the Pomares that you should continue to go down to fetch them?" and he showed her the document which she had heard of but which was much worse than she supposed, as it proposed to break up the act of protectorate that had been already made and distinctly stated that as Ariitalmai had refused to be made queen he would make the island a French colony at once. But with that precious letter in her bosom she would not be thwarted in her purpose, and did not leave the governor until she had received his very grudging permission to see Pomare and, if she consented to return, to take her to Moorea and let him know. With this she was obliged to be contented. More she could not accomplish without divulging the secret of her letter, and this, she argued, would be disloyal to her friend; for was it not a secret letter sent to her at great risk? No, she would accomplish her purpose without humiliating her Queen. Pomare should return at the request of the governor without losing aught of her queenly dignity.

And now this little drama draws rapidly to a close. Ariitaimai made her third trip to Raiatea and accompanied Pomare to Moorea, and sent word to the governor that he would find them there. Obedient to this gently expressed command of his ambassadress, the governor very courteously went to Moorea in person to receive the Queen and bring her back to her home and throne. In the same dispassionate style Ariitaimai tells of the homeward journey: "As we all went on board a salute was fired. We sailed around the island, flying the protectorate flag at the fore, to inform the people of these islands that their Queen had returned. We then continued our route for Papeete and on arriving there the forts from the shore saluted the flag." But O! the irony of Fate! As they entered the harbor what a sight met the eyes of the poor Queen! Both British and American ships were anchored there, having come at last in answer to her appeals, but only in time to see her placed on her throne by the grace of the hated French, But peace had been bought too dearly to be broken now even by this vacillating queen, and the British and American officers, seeing the situation, had the good sense to assist in the general festivities celebrating the long-looked-for peace. The memoirs conclude with this simple statement: "The Queen remained several hours on board the steamer as the governor wished the natives to see that the Queen had really come back. There were soldiers in line on shore to receive us and we were conducted to the governor's house. The peace of the island was then decided upon. On arriving at the governor's house we found all the commanders of the troops and vessels there and before them I was thanked by Governor Bruat for what I had done for my country."

When a world of menCould not prevail with all their oratoryYet hath a woman's kindness overruled.SHAKESPEARE.

When a world of men

Could not prevail with all their oratory

Yet hath a woman's kindness overruled.

SHAKESPEARE.

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