APPROACH OF THE QUEEN. 181 
to me, and endeavoured, with many comical 
pantomimic gestures, to make me understand 
that all were mine. At length the Queen her- 
self appeared, followed by a numerous train of 
attendants. She walked first, carrying the little 
King in her arms, and holding her daughter, 
the betrothed of the Prince of Ulietea, by the 
hand. After her came her three sisters, all like 
herself, large fat women, and then the whole 
crowd of the Court. The rear was brought up 
by a multitude of people of the lower class, 
bearing viands for the Royal entertainment, in 
utensils made of various kinds of gourds. 
Among the dainties was a live pig, which 
squeaking and grunting in anticipation of its 
fate, supplied to this orderly procession the 
absence of a musical band. 
The Queen and her three sisters were wrapped 
in sheets; and their straw hats still bore stream- 
ers of black crape, as signs of mourning for the 
late King. The little Pomareh, a pretty, lively 
boy, was dressed quite in the Kuropean fashion, 
in a jacket and trowsers of bombasin; he wore 
a round hat, but his feet, like those of all the 
other Tahaitians, were bare. They object that 
