CRUISE OF THE PORPOISE. 291 



accident to his being intoxicated, began to abuse him in opprobrious 

 terms Enraged at it, he dismounted, and began not only to abuse 

 but also to strike her. Not content with this, he caught her by the 

 hair, threw her down, and attempted to strangle her, which he was 

 only prevented from doing by the attendants, who held him until 

 Pomare fled for her life. Disappointed in overtaking her, he hurried 

 to her new palace at Papieti, and vented his anger by demolishing 

 the windows breakmg open her boxes and trunks, and tearing her 

 wardrobe and finery to pieces,-thus doing injury to the amount of 

 some two thousand dollars. 



On the perpetration of this outrage, the queen at first declared 

 her intention of summoning the judges and suing for a divorce; but 

 soon changed her mind, and forgave her husband on his promising 

 future good behaviour. ° 



Although this may appear extraordinary conduct on the part of the 

 king-consort, yet when one learns that the queen has been in the 

 habit of giving him a sound cudgelling, even on the highway, his 

 conduct is not so surprising, particularly as it is said that she admi- 

 nistered her punishments with such earnestness and force that he 

 would not be hkely soon to lose the remembrance of them 



These broils in the royal family may, I believe, be justly charged 

 to the foreign residents whom I have spoken of before as being the 

 authors of them, for they administer to his depraved appetite in 

 order to derive pecuniary advantage from these disturbances. 



On the nth of May, a great meeting of the district schools took 

 place at Papaoa. This had been in prospect for several weeks, and 

 every one was anxious for the event. The procession to the chapel 

 was the great scene of display: here the orator of the day was to 

 officiate, after which a feast was to be given by the queen to the 

 chiefs and children. 



As there was some novelty in this celebration, which was the first 

 of the kind attempted, I will give a short description of it, derived 

 from an eye-witness. First came the boys of Papieti and Papaoa, to 

 ttie number of about two hundred, dressed in blue cotton coats and 

 trousers, the seams bound with narrow strips of red and white cloth, 

 the facings of the coats of many colours, and not unfrequently the 

 coats themselves of diverse colours on the alternate sides : the skirts 

 were also of different colours; others were to be seen with white 

 jackets, and skirts of plaid cloth : on their heads they wore home- 

 made cocked-hats, manufactured from buUock's-hide, on which were 



