The preparations for this solemnity had long been carrying on, and as it
was now soon to take place, nearly all the kings, with numerous suites,
had arrived in Tahaiti. Among them was the powerful ruler of Ulietea,
the grandfather of the infant sovereign; he had brought with him several
hundred warriors, many of them armed with muskets.

We wished much to have been present at this first coronation of a King
of the Society Islands; but as our time would not permit it, I obtained
from Mr. Tyrman an account of the order and plan of the ceremony.

The kings, princes, members of parliament, and other high officers, were
to assemble at the residence of the Queen, and thence in a regular
procession, arranged according to their several ranks and dignities, and
headed by the young King and the Missionaries, to pass to an appointed
open space, where a throne of stone had been erected, on which the
little Pomareh was to be seated. The procession was then to form a
circle round him, and Mr. Tyrman, after making a speech, was to set on
the King's head a crown, resembling in shape that of England, in which
country it had been made. A Bible was then to be placed in his hand,
with the admonition, "According to this Law, thou shall govern thy
people." Upon this, the train being marshalled as before, the King
should descend from his throne, and proceed to the church, where, after
the performance of divine service, he should be anointed. The ceremonies
should then conclude with a grand banquet.

It is remarkable that the Bible, and not the Act of the Constitution,
was to be given to the King, as the rule of his government. Was not a
sly mental reservation perhaps intended by this? If the Constitution
should not have exactly the effect intended, and the Tahaitians,
emboldened by it, should seek to withdraw themselves from their
leading-strings, then might the pupil of Nott, bound to them by no oath,
come forward to them boldly, and force them back under the yoke of the
Missionaries; all the while conscientiously obeying the rule of conduct
which had been delivered to him, according to the interpretation he had
been taught to put on it.

How this coronation turned out--whether the son of Tajo allowed it to
pass quietly--whether he has met the fate of many an unfortunate
European pretender, or survives to become the originator of a civil war,
which may yet give another destiny to Tahaiti, remains to be learnt from
the accounts of some