204 
VOYAGE TO THE 
CHAP, affairs of the state than her sister, who had doubtless the greater 
claim to the office. We found that the queen mother, widow of Po- 
March, marree II., had married a chief of Bora Bora, a fine-looking lad of ten 
or eleven years of age, and that Aimatta was united to a chief of Hua- 
heine, a short corpulent person, who, in consequence of his marriage, 
was allowed to bear the royal name of Pomarree, to which, however, 
in allusion to his figure, and in conformity with their usual custom, 
they had added the appropriate but not very elegant surname of 
“ Aboo-rai,” or big-belly. 
We treated the royal party with the few good things which re- 
mained, and they landed at night, highly delighted with a display of 
fire- works purposely prepared for them. Next morning the party 
repeated their visit, somewhat better dressed, and accompanied by 
Aimatta and Aboo-rai. They were followed by a large double canoe and 
many small single ones, bearing upon their gunwales heaps of fruit and 
roots, and four enormous hogs, at the imminent risk of upsetting the 
whole. The double canoe was the “ last of her race,” and had been 
used for the nobler purposes of war, but, like the inhabitants, was now 
devoted to humbler but more useful occupations. 
As soon as the queen reached the deck she tendered the present 
to me in the name of the young king, then at the missionary school 
at Eimeo, and I returned the compliment that was due to her for this 
mark of her attention, as well as for the munificence of the gift. As 
soon as the remainder of the party were assembled, it was proposed 
that we should adjourn to the breakfast prepared in the cabin ; but the 
regent desired that every part of the present should previously be 
set out on a particular part of the deck, pigs and all, in order to im- 
press us more fully with an idea of her liberality ; and when the whole 
was collected, she led me to the pile, and expatiated on the superior 
quality of the fruit. 
Having at length assembled at breakfast, which by this time was 
cold, a difficulty arose, I was informed, in consequence of Aimatta, the 
king’s sister, being unwilling to relinquish the distinction she had enjoyed 
under the former custom of the island, which rendered it indecorous 
for some of her countrywomen, who were of the party, to presume 
