his own name to Pomare (night cough). He was now in his prime and six feet four inches in height, and armed with a huge club, he was well equipped to inspire terror among his subjects.
Pomare enjoyed the immeasurable advantage of being chief of the region of Papeete (the water basket), for this having the best harbor of the island enabled him to gather enormous fortunes of nails, hatchets, and red feathers from ships, only, however, to be robbed by his rivals upon the departure of his European friends. Thus when the Bounty came to Tahiti he was in the direst straits having been forced to "declare dividends" for the benefit of every other Ariirahi of the island. However the sixteen mutineers marooned upon Tahiti found it to their advantage to aid Pomare, and they turned their guns upon his rivals with such cruel slaughter that in a few months he was tyrant not only of Tahiti but of the island of Eimeo. Probably it was fortunate for his schemes that no sooner was his tyranny secured than the avenging Pandora came to capture and remove his villainous assistants, who doubtless would in the end have murdered their royal master.
This period wherein one of the high chiefs secured the services of unprincipled white men armed with guns had its parallel in Fiji where it led to the rise of Mbau; in Hawaii it enabled Kamehameha to conquer the entire archipelago; and in Tonga, aided by Europeans, it secured the preeminence of George Tubou.
As in the wars of the roses, the leaders suffered more than the people in these bloody raids for power, and thus the commoners, their local overlords being slain, began to rise in influence, and something akin to public opinion commenced to murmur as a growing check upon the tyrant who now assumed the rôle of autocrat whereas formerly he had been but a moderator. Thus in old times, generosity was considered to be an Ariirahi's highest virtue, and often he gave so lavishly of the tribute he received that in worldly goods he was poorer than many a servant in his train.
(To be continued)
