ROYAL MARRIAGE. 
291 
When the ceremony commenced, Mr. Barff and 
myself took our station near the communion table 
in front of the pulpit; Pomare and his friends 
standing on our right, and Aimata with her re¬ 
latives on the left. The raatiras formed a semi¬ 
circle three or four deep immediately behind the 
bride and bridegroom, while the body of the chapel 
was filled with spectators. Most of the chiefs appear¬ 
ed in European dresses, some of which being large 
loose gowns of highly glazed chintz of a brilliant red 
and yellow colour, intermixed with dresses of black 
and blue broad cloth, presented a novel spectacle. 
The principal part of Pomare’s dress was manu¬ 
factured in the islands, and worn after the ancient 
fashion. Aimata wore a white English gown, a 
light pink scarf, and a finely platted hibiscus 
bonnet, trimmed with white ribands. The queen, 
Pomare-vahine, and all the females of the royal 
party, appeared in white dresses of foreign manu¬ 
facture. The raatiras wore the native costume 
peculiar to their rank and station, while the dress 
of the multitude behind them presented almost 
every variety of European and native clothing. 
The rich and showy colours exhibited in the 
apparel of the chiefs, the uniform white raiment of 
the queen and her companions, in striking contrast 
with their olive-coloured complexions and dark 
glossy curling hair, presented an unusual appear¬ 
ance. The picturesque dress of the raatiras, who 
wore the purau or beautifully fine white matting 
tiputa, bordered round the neck and the edges 
with a most elegant fringe, and bore in the right 
hand a highly polished staff, or kind of halbert, of 
black iron-wood, together with the diversified ap¬ 
pearance of the spectators, greatly increased the 
novel and imposing effect of the whole. 
u 2 
