The Floating Island (24 page)

Consequently about nine o’clock
Cyrus Bikerstaff and his assistants, Barthélemy Ruge, and Hubley Harcourt, all
in full uniform, the chief notables of both sections, among others Nat Coverley
and Jem Tankerdon, Commodore Simcoe and his officers in brilliant uniforms,
Colonel Stewart and his escort, took their places in the boats and were rowed
towards Papaete.

Sebastien Zorn, Frascolin, Yvernès,
Pinchinat, Athanase Dorémus, and Calistus Munbar occupied another boat with a
certain number of functionaries.

Canoes and native boats formed in
procession behind the official world of Milliard City, worthily represented by
its Governor, its authorities, its notables, of whom the two chief were rich
enough to buy Tahiti right out, and even the Society Islands, including their
sovereign.

This harbour of Papaete is an
excellent one, and of such depth that ships of heavy tonnage can anchor there.
There are three channels into it: the main channel on the north, seventy metres
wide and eighty long, narrowed by a small bank marked with buoys, the Tanoa
channel on the east, and Tapuna channel on the west.

The electric launches
majestically skirted the beach dotted with villas and country houses, and the
quays at which the vessels were moored. The landing took place at the foot of
an elegant fountain which serves as a watering-place and is fed by the streams
from the neighbouring mountains, on one of which is a semaphore.

Cyrus Bikerstaff and his suite
landed amid a large crowd of the French, native and foreign population, who welcomed
the Pearl of the Pacific as the most extraordinary of the marvels made by the
genius of man. After the first outbursts of enthusiasm the procession moved
towards the palace of the Governor of Tahiti.

Calistus Munbar, superb in his
state costume, which he only wore on ceremony days, invited the quartette to
follow him, and they were only too happy to accept the superintendent’s
invitation.

The French protectorate not only
embraces the island of Tahiti and the island of Moorea, but also the neighbouring
group. The chief is a commandant-commissioner, having under his orders an “ordonnateur”
who manages the troops, the shipping, the colonial and local finances and the
judicial administration. The general secretary of the commissioner has charge
of the civil affairs of the country. Several Residents are located in the
islands, at Moorea, at Farakava in the Paumotus, at Taio-Hahè, at Nuka-Hiva,
and a justice of the peace, whose jurisdiction extends over the Marquesas.
Since 1861 there has been a consultative committee for agriculture and trade,
which sits once a year at Papaete. There also are the headquarters of the
artillery and the engineers. The garrison comprises detachments of colonial
gendarmerie, artillery, and marine infantry. A curé and a vicar appointed by
the government, and nine missionaries scattered among the islands, assure the
practice of the Catholic religion. In truth the Parisians might believe
themselves in France, in a French port, and there was nothing displeasing to
them in that.

As to the villages on the
different islands, they are administered by a sort of native municipal council
presided over by a tarana, assisted by a judge, a chief mutoi, and two
councillors elected by the inhabitants.,

Under the shade of beautiful
trees the procession marched towards the palace of the government. On every
side were cocoanut trees of superb growth, miros with rosy foliage, bancoulias,
clumps of orange trees, guava trees, caoutchoucs, etc. The palace stood amid
this charming verdure, which rose as high as its roof, which was decorated with
charming mansardes; its front was of considerable elegance and embraced a
ground floor and one storey. The principal French functionaries were here
assembled, and the colonial gendarmerie formed a guard of honour.

The commandant-commissioner
received Cyrus Bikerstaff with a graciousness that he certainly would not have
met with in the English archipelagoes of these parts. He thanked him for having
brought Floating Island into the waters of this archipelago. He hoped that the
visit would be renewed every year, regretting that Tahiti could not return the
compliment. The interview lasted half an hour, and it was agreed that Cyrus
Bikerstaff might expect the authorities next day at the town hall.

“Do you intend to remain some
time at Papaete?” asked the commandant-commissioner.

“A fortnight,” replied the
Governor.

“Then you will have the pleasure
of seeing the French naval division which is expected here at the end of the
week.”

“We shall be happy to do them the
honours of our island.”

Cyrus Bikerstaff presented the
members of his suite, his assistants, Commodore Ethel Simcoe, the commandant of
the militia, the different functionaries, the superintendent of fine arts, and
the artistes of the Quartette Party, who were welcomed as they ought to be by a
compatriot.

Then there was a slight
embarrassment with regard to the delegates of the sections of Milliard City.
How was he to avoid giving offence to Jem Tankerdon and Nat Coverley, those two
irritable personages who had the right
—

“To march both at once,” said
Pinchinat.

The difficulty was evaded by the
commandant-commissioner himself. Knowing the rivalry between the two famous
millionaires, he was of such perfect tact, so rigid in his official
correctness, and acted with such diplomatic address, that the matter passed
over as if it had been all arranged.

It is needless to say that
Sebastien Zorn, Yvernès, Pinchinat, and Frascolin had intended to leave
Athanase Dorémus, who was already out of breath, to get back to his house in
Twenty-Fifth Avenue. They hoped to spend as much time as possible at Papaete,
in visiting the environs, making excursions into the principal districts, even
as far as the peninsula of Tatarapu, even to exhaust to the last drop this
Flask of the Pacific.

Having decided on this, they
informed Calistus Munbar, who could but approve of the plan.

“But,” he said, “you had better
wait a couple of days before starting on your journey.”

“And why not to-day?” asked the
impatient Yvernès.

“Because the authorities of
Floating Island wish to pay their respects to the Queen, and you will have to
be presented to her and her court.”

“And to-morrow?” said Frascolin.

“To-morrow the
commandant-commissioner of the archipelago is to return the visit he has
received from the authorities of Floating Island, and it is the proper thing
—
”

“For us to be there,” replied
Pinchinat. “Well, Mr. Superintendent, we shall be there, we shall be there.”

Leaving the palace of the
Government, Cyrus Bikerstaff and his procession directed their steps to the
palace of her Majesty. It was a simple promenade under the trees, which did not
take more than a quarter of an hour.

The royal dwelling is very
agreeably situated amid masses of verdure. It is a quadrilateral in two
storeys, with a chalet-like roof overhanging two tiers of verandahs. From the
upper windows the view embraces the large plantations which extend up to the
town, and beyond is a large section of sea. In short a charming house, not
luxurious, but comfortable.

The Queen had lost nothing of her
prestige in passing under the rule of a French protectorate. If the flag of
France is displayed from the masts of the vessels moored in the port of Papaete
or anchored in the roadstead, on the civil and military edifices of the city,
at least the standard of the sovereign displays over her palace the ancient
colours of the archipelago
—
red
and white stripes, horizontal, with a tricolour in the upper canton.

It was in 1706 that Quiros
discovered the island of Tahiti, to which he gave the name of Sagittaria. After
him Walter in 1767, Bougainville in 1768, completed the exploration of the
group. At the time of the first discovery Queen Oberea was reigning, and after
her death the celebrated dynasty of the Pomares appeared in the history of
Oceania.

Pomare I. (1762-1780) having
reigned under the name of Otoo, the Black Heron, changed it for that of Pomare.

Her son, Pomare II. (1780-1819),
favourably welcomed in 1797 the first English missionaries, who converted him
to the Christian religion ten years afterwards. This was a period of
dissensions and internecine war, and the population of the archipelago
gradually decreased from a hundred thousand to sixteen thousand.

Pomare III., son of the
preceding, reigned from 1819 to 1827, and his sister Aimata, born in 1812,
became Queen of Tahiti and the neighbouring islands. Having no children by
Tapoa, her first husband, she repudiated him to marry Ariifaaite. From this
union there was born in 1849 Arione, the heir presumptive, who died at the age
of thirty-five. From the following year afterwards the Queen presented four
children to her husband, who was the finest man in the islands
—
a daughter,
Teriimaevarua, princess of the island of Bora-Bora since 1860; Prince Tamatoa,
born in 1842, King of the island of Raiatea, who was overthrown by his subjects
revolting against his brutality; Prince Teriitapunui, born in 1846, afflicted
with lameness, and Prince Tuavira, born in 1848, who finished his education in
France.

The reign of Queen Pomare was not
absolutely peaceful. In 1835 the Catholic missionaries began a struggle with
the Protestant missionaries. Being sent out of the country, they were brought
back by a French expedition in 1838. Four years afterwards the protectorate of
France was accepted by the five chiefs of the island. Pomare protested, the
English protested. Admiral Dupetit-Thouars proclaimed the deposition of the
Queen in 1843. But the admiral having been disavowed to a certain extent,
Admiral Bruat was sent to bring the matter to a conclusion.

Tahiti submitted in 1846, and
Pomare accepted the protectorate by the treaty of June 19th, 1847, receiving
the sovereignty of the islands of Raiatea, Huahine and Bora-Bora. There were
further troubles in 1852; an outbreak overthrew the Queen, and a republic was even
proclaimed. At last the French Government reinstated the sovereign, who
abandoned three of her crowns; in favour of her eldest son that of Raiatea and
Tahaa, in favour of her second son that of Huahine, and in favour of her
daughter that of Bora-Bora.

In these days it is one of her
descendants, Pomare IV., who occupies the throne of the archipelago.

The complaisant Frascolin
continued to justify his title of the Larousse of the Pacific which Pinchinat
had given him. These historical and biographical details he gave to his
comrades, declaring that it was always better to know the people among whom
they went and to whom they spoke. Yvernès and Pinchinat replied that he was
right in instructing them as to the genealogy of the Pomares, and Sebastien
Zorn observed that it was a matter of indifference to him.

The sensitive Yvernès became
entirely steeped in the charm of this poetic Tahitian nature. To his memory
returned the enchanting narratives of the voyages of Bougainville and Dumont-D’Urville.
He did not hide his emotion at the thought that he was to find himself in the
presence of this sovereign of New Cythera, of a real Queen Pomare, whose name
—

“Signifies ‘ right of coughing’ ”
said Frascolin.

“Good!” exclaimed Pinchinat, “as
if you were to say the goddess of catarrh, the empress of coryza! Beware, Yvernès,
and don’t forget your handkerchief.”

Yvernès was furious at this
unseasonable attempt at wit, but the others laughed so heartily that he
finished by joining in with them.

The reception of the Governor of
Floating Island, his assistants, and the delegation of the notables took place
in great state. The honours were rendered by the mutoi, the chief of the
gendarmerie, with whom were some of the native auxiliaries.

Queen Pomare IV. was about forty
years of age. She wore, like her family who surrounded her, a ceremonial
costume of pale rose, the colour preferred by the Tahitian populace. She
received the compliments of Cyrus Bikerstaff with an affable dignity, if such
an expression is permissible, which would not have disgraced a European
monarch. She replied graciously and in very correct French, for our language is
current in the Society Archipelago. She had besides a very great wish to see
this Floating Island, of which there had been so much talking in the Pacific,
and hoped that its stay would not be the last. Jem Tankerdon was the object of
particular attention
—
much
to the disgust of Nat Coverley. This was because the royal family are of the
Protestant religion, and Jem Tankerdon was the most notable personage of the
Protestant section of Milliard City.

The Quartette Party were not
forgotten in the presentations. The Queen deigned to inform its members that
she would be charmed to hear them and applaud them. They bowed respectfully,
affirming that they were at her Majesty’s command, and the superintendent would
arrange for the Queen to be gratified.

After the audience, which lasted
for half an hour, the honours given to the procession as it entered the royal
palace were repeated as it retired.

The visitors returned to Papaete.
A halt was made at the military club, where the officers had prepared a
luncheon in honour of the Governor and his companions. The champagne flowed,
toasts succeeded, and it was six o’clock when the launches left the Papaete
quays for Starboard Harbour.

In the evening, when the Parisian
artistes found themselves in the casino,
—

“We have a concert in view,” said
Frascolin. “What shall we play to her Majesty? Will she understand Mozart or
Beethoven?”

“We will play Offenbach, Varney,
Lecoq, or Audran!” replied Sebastien Zorn.