1835. AUDIENCE — REFLECTIONS. ' 525 



tened only at the throat. There was no reception at landing : 

 no attendance, no kind of outward ceremony showed that the 

 ' Queen of the Isles ' had arrived at her home. 



Some time afterwards, when I heard that she was inclined to 

 give an audience, I went to the royal cottage with Mr. Prit- 

 chard. A parcel of half-dressed merry looking damsels eyed 

 us with an amusing mixture of shyness and curiosity. These, 

 I concluded, were a part of the ' Queen"'s mob,"* as our inter- 

 preter had ignorantly or democratically called the royal atten- 

 dants. Only a few men were about the house, one of whom 

 was the queen's foster-father ('feeding father"* in the Otaheitan 

 language) and another her husband. 



Entering a small room, ' la-orana Pomare,' with a shake of 

 the hand, was the salutation given by Mr. Pritchard, and by 

 myself, following his example. On the only three chairs in 

 the room we sat down, but the queen looked very uncomfor- 

 table, and certainly not at all dignified. I could not help 

 pitying her, for it was evident she was expecting a lecture on 

 the subject of the Truro, and felt her utter helplessness : I was 

 therefore glad, after a few words of compliment, to see her 

 mother, husband, and foster-father enter the room, though 

 they sat down upon chests or the floor. 



I delivered a letter from Commodore Mason, which she 

 asked Mr. Pritchard to interpret, and sent out to her secre- 

 tary. A meeting of the chiefs, herself presiding, was proposed 

 and decided to be held on the following day. Some conver- 

 sation then passed on other subjects, and we took our leave by 

 shaking each individual by the hand. This is certainly pre- 

 ferable to pressing noses, but I was sorry to see that the mis- 

 sionaries had attended but little to the outward demeanour, to 

 the manners, to the attendance, and to the dwelling of the sove- 

 reign of a people whose happiness and improvement would 

 certainly be increased by raising the character, and improving 

 the condition of their ruler. While called a queen, Pomare 

 ought to be supported by some of those ceremonious distinc- 

 tions, which have, in all ages and nations, accompanied the 

 . chief authority. That the missionaries should interfere harshly 



