Present Protectorate. — Currency. — Taxation. 209 



simple address, implored the sympathy and support of Queen 

 Victoria.* 



The violent proceedings of the admiral were not endorsed 

 by the Government of Louis Philippe, which recalled Du 

 Petit-Thouars, and restored to Queen Pomare the islands of 

 Tahiti and Eimeo, but the French protectorate remained 

 unaltered, since which the two islands have remained, if not 

 dejurcj at all events de facto, a French colony. The adminis- 

 tration is vested in the hands of a proportionately increased 

 staff of French officials, and import and export duties 

 are levied by the French authorities, while the Queen 

 herself receives her civil list of £1000 at the hands of 

 the '' Tr^sorier et payeur des Etablissements fran^ais en 

 Oc^anie."t 



* These two letters are dated, " Waiau, on the Island of Raiatea, 24th Sept. 1844," 

 whither Queen Pomare had withdrawn after the events of November, 1843, and 

 w^hence she only returned to Tahiti in 1847. 



t According to the laws of the country, each married resident contributes one 

 franc per annum to the civil list; a vddower with one child, one franc; a widower 

 without children, two francs ; an unmarried adult, two francs ; an adult female un- 

 married, one franc ; boys under sixteen, and girls under fourteen, as also criminals 

 and persons incapacitated for labour, pay nothing. This is the only direct tax the 

 inhabitants are called upon to pay. The revenues of the island do not, however, 

 suffice to defray the expenses of the French occupation. Before the arrival of the 

 Europeans the Tahitians had no description of currency, but had recourse in all 

 business transactions to barter. The Protestant missionaries were the first to inti'o- 

 duce about £2000 of copper money, which they had got struck in England for the 

 purpose. This currency was based upon a coin of the value of one half-penny. On 

 one side was a ship, and on the obverse the words " copper preferable to paper." 

 When the French came to the island they flung this money into the sea, and for- 

 bade their circulation under heavy penalties ! At present the only coins used are 

 francs and vera (about one-third of a franc=3jd nearly). 



VOL. HI. P 



