Monsieur ---, {78} who let me into the secret, offered to take me
with him to Papara, where he resided; but even he did not travel
alone, as, besides his mistress, Tati, the principal chief of the
island, and his family, accompanied him. This chief had come to
Papeiti to be present at the fete of the 1st of May.
On the 4th of May we put off to sea in a boat, for the purpose of
coasting round to Papara, forty-two miles distant. I found the
chief Tati to be a lively old man nearly ninety years of age, who
remembered perfectly the second landing of the celebrated
circumnavigator of the globe, Captain Cook. His father was, at that
period, the principal chief, and had concluded a friendly alliance
with Cook, and, according to the custom then prevalent at Tahiti,
had changed names with him.
Tati enjoys from the French government a yearly pension of 6,000
francs (240 pounds), which, after his death, will fall to his eldest
son.
He had with him his young wife and five of his sons; the former was
twenty-three years old, and the ages of the latter varied from
twelve to eighteen.
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