LETTER TO HER BRITANNIC MAJESTY. 131 
Otaheitans, who sought out with diligence 
whether there might not be relations among 
their guests. In one instance a woman came a 
considerable distance, and discovered in one of 
the four remaining women a long-absent sister. 
The fact of Queen Pom are having been en- 
gaged in a troublesome civil war at the time of 
the visit of the islanders, places her kindness and 
attention to them in a still more pleasing light. 
This is the Queen Pomare, who, early in 
1843, complained to her Majesty, Queen Vic- 
toria, of the proceedings of the French, in 
threatening her peace and government. There 
is much pathos and simplicity in the Otaheitan 
Queen's mode of address to her " Sister and 
Friend." The following are extracts from her 
letter literally translated: 
" Tahiti, January 23, 1843. 
" My dear Friend and Sister, Queen Victoria, 
Queen of Great Britain, Health and peace to 
you! And saved may you be by Jehovah, the 
Foundation of our power as Queens of our res- 
pective countries. We dwell in peace by the 
arrangements made by our predecessors. 
" This is my speech to you, my sister friend. 
Commiserate me in my affliction, in my help- 
lessness, in which my nation is involved with 
France. 
" The existing protectorate government of 
France in my dominions I do not acknowledge. 
I knew nothing of what my chiefs and the 
French Consul had done before I wrote to you 
by Captain Jones, I being absent at Kaiate." 
