Narrative of the surveying voyages of his majesty's ships Adventure and Beagle (vol.2): between the years 1826 and 1836 : describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagles's circumnavigation of the globe

516 QUEEN POMARE — NATIVES. NoV. he was secretary of legation to the Marquis of Marialva, at the congress of Vienna; and that in 1815 he belonged to the 23d Light Dragoons (English). In 1816 he was attache to the French ambassador in Ixjndon. In 1819 he was study- ing divinity at Oxford. In 1820-21, he was a student of laws at Cambridge. Afterwards he travelled on the continent and lately had been sojourning in the United States. He visited and brought letters from the Governor of St. Thomas, in the West Indies. He showed papers to prove these assertions had a wife and four children with him ; and he had succeeded in duping a great many people. Mr. Pritchard had seen the queen (by courtesy called Pomare, after her father, though her name was Aimatta) at Eimeo, the day before he arrived at Otaheite ; and as she had not intimated an intention of coming thence, I agreed to go with him in a few days to pay my respects to her, and to make a formal application upon the subject of the Truro, a mer- chant vessel plundered and destroyed by the Low Islanders in 1830-31.* I returned to Matavai in the evening, and, after landing Mr. Wilson, remained nearly two hours listening to the natives singing. I asked them to dance ; but they said it was forbidden, and that the watchman would take them to the governor of the district, who would fine them heavily. Sing- ing, except hymns, is also forbidden to the grown people, but they seemed to like listening to the children. This evening, before dark, there was a sight upon the Beagle^s deck, which dehghted us who wished to collect shells but had not time to look for them. An Englishmanf had spread out a lai'ge collection which he had just brought from the Low Islands, and soon found eager purchasers. 19th. We weighed anchor, and went into the little cove of Papawa, for the sake of watering quickly, without exposing the men and boats to a heavy surf. It is easy to avoid the numerous rocky patches, while there is a breeze, and the sun * This I was requested to do by Commodore Mason, t John Middleton.