Hall. — On the Island of Bapa. 77 



Tlie island is of very irregular form, witt several iudentatious in tHe 

 coast, two of wHcli are considerable bays, having eacb its little village, 

 vHlst tlie third and largest is the harbour. It is about twenty miles round, 

 though, from the irregulaiity of its outline, it is difficult to estimate this 

 exactly. The coast is bold, with no outlying reefs beyond half a mile. 



The French have assumed the protectorate of it — on the ground, I 

 believe, that it is a dependency of the Tahitian group — but looking, a day or 

 two ago, at a recent French map of the world dedicated to the Emperor, I 

 saw a circle described round the Society group as the limits of their pro- 

 tectorate. Xow this line happens to be more than 300 miles distant from 

 Eapa, and had we not established a station there, I fancy they would never 

 have gone near it. But the French, having made an effort to induce the 

 Compa.ny to adopt Tahiti as the half-way house, of course unsuccessfully, 

 and hearing that we were in search of a place more in the track than Tahiti, 

 fancied it must be at one of the Grambier Islands, lying considerably to 

 the N.E. of Eapa, and included in the protectorate circle. Accordingly 

 they sent a Eesident there to watch our proceedings. Finding, after some 

 time, that we did not appear there, but had selected Eapa for our port of 

 call, the same Eesiden't was sent to that island, in the early part of the 

 present year, on board the French war transport " La Dorade." A few 

 months previous to this, and subsequent to our appearance at the island, 

 another French steamer, " La Touche Treville," called at the island. They 

 make out for the first time that Eapa — though nearly, as I said, 300 miles 

 out of the magic circle drawn by themselves round the Society group — 

 belongs to the Tahitian protectorate. Some three months ago the French 

 war steamer " La Touche Treville " called at the island, as I am informed, 

 made nearly all the inhabitants drunk, and got the King, Tapanua (a most 

 powerful toper), and two chiefs, Miroto (the man who betrayed theTahitians 

 to the French) and Eiton, to sign away the island to the French. This 

 Eiton told me himself. Many of the influential chiefs, being absent, kept 

 sober on the occasion, and deny the King's right to alienate any lands not 

 his personal property. His dusky majesty having drunk all the rum, now 

 begins to repent his bargain, and hopes the English will come to the island 

 and preserve him from all intruders. The object of the French was, as one 

 of their captains told us, simply to embarrass' the operations of the Company, 

 or they certainly vrould not incur an expense of about £600 per annum to 

 watch our coaling merely. 



It is only due to the supineness of the English Grovernment that this fine 

 harbour is not under their control ; for, three years ago, on my representa- 

 tion, application was made to the Admiralty to send a man-of-war there. 

 However, nothing was ever done in the matter. 



