Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-03-24
THE QUEEN OF TAHITI.
Her Majesty in Paris-Her Ideas of Civil
lizatiOn-A Sketch of Her Career.

! 1hE QUEEN OE TAHITI
Her Majesty in Paris-Her Ideas of Civil
lizatiOn-A Sketch of Her Career.
\ Paris correspondent writes to the
LONDON standard: The Queen of Tahiti
arrived at 4;5O this afternoon from Havre.
/ Where she spent twenty-four hours. AS
unfortunately work is now scarce. a large
crowd OF poor people who had nothing to
DO hung about the terminus to see her.
she, on descending from the train, walked
rapidly across the railway to the bag
gage saloon. and warmly embraced
some relatives who awaited her there
Inc statlon-master and a police officer
told me they were instructed to treat her
as an ordinary traveller. She appears in
this respect to enter into the ideas of the
french Government, begging those who
Travelled with her 10 give her no other
title than that of Madame and in
scribing herself at the Hotel de Lille as a
private person. Her face and round hat
were enYelOped with claret-cOlored gauZe.
and the daRk-blue costume mantled with
loose black cloak. Tie luggage was
slender. A tWo-hOrse fly awaited her and
her party and conveyed them to her tenn
porary abode in the Rue st. Honore. She
goes on visit next week to relatives in
Germany, and then to stay with some
cousins in England. The Queen of Tahiti is
sure to win popularity in the French CAPT
tai, and will perhaps inspire composers
with themes for light operas. Her Magestv
is tiye-and-twenty, of mixed English and
Otaheitian blood, and of the best Austria
Ian education. She is sufficiently the
child of nature to let her amiable in
stincts come freely out. Having the
charm of rare physical beauty and being
grass widow, she is sure to be the IiOness
of the season in Paris-that is. if she al
lows herself to be lionized. Her Chris
tian name is Marau, and her family name
Salmon, and her mother, Arataimai, was
a chiettainess in Otaheite before the
French annexed that group of islands.
photographs of the Queen and a medal
lion likeness of her have been forwarded
to NJ. Jules Ferry and to the President of
the republic. Others were sent to NJ. de
Freycinet when he was Foreign Minister.
The Queen was educated at Sydney, where
she learned how to play the piano, the
guitar and clarinette. She prefers CAV
dance music to any other, and is familiar
with the scores OF Auber and Lecoq.
When Marau returned from Australia she
was taken to make her curteSy to POmare
who was almost in her dOtage. To cheer
up the old Queen, Miss Salmon used to
play and sing to her, and accompany her
out OF her doors with her guitar i'm her
hand. Her musical talents. and then her
beauty, fascinated the heir-apparent. For
nearly year she was engaged to be mar
RED to him. The French Consul tried to
prevent the match, and English influence
was employed in another direction. 4
governmental crisis at Versailles enabled
the latter to prevail. But soon after the
wedding rival beauties were brought into
play and with such fun success that the
hereditary Princess could not, with her
Anglican ideas, help resenting them. Her
royal mother-in-law could not understand
the feeling OF jealousy, and she chided the
Princess. The Queens notions of ciyili-
cation were mostly derived from French
dlplomatists and naval officers, who re-
garded her Island-kingdom as a heaven
born chateau DIES fieurs. In some respects
the courtly usages that sprang up under
French influence had Mabille tincture.
ana 1t was of no avail for Mr.. Salmon's
daughter to react against them. A native
eptlle-cLarmer, who had also won re-
nown as fortune teller, subiugated
Aruane and got round the old Queen. who
imagined that by her spells she could pro-
long her lille. Marau quilted the palace.
and as there are judges in Otaheite. and
European laws in force, obtained legal
separation from her husband, In 1877
P0mare died. Aruane was seized with a
III oil cOntrltlon and turned away the sor-
ceress. A detailed report was sent to the
Duo Decazes of his breach with her and
the dHlende honorable which was made to
the Queen. The Kings peace-Otfering was
her rlYaPs head OF hair, which was
shaved off by French barber made up
INTO tress decorated with flowers. and
sent oHer Majesty on an electro-plated sal
yer. Alarau fOrgave past sins and returned
to the royal habitatiOn. But her WAYS
were too strait-Iaced for the rest of the
court. DiscOrd was sOWn as when she
was .fdBcee by the representatives of
foreign powers ana by the religious mis-
slons they each favored. There was a
tacit conspiracy against the Queen. and
when she found that Aruane was incorri-
glDle she went back again to live with her
mother. 1t was there that she gave birth
TO the present heir-apparent-a faXen-
haired, blue-eyed child. The poor bow has
not great expectations. Were he even
cherished by the King, he would not have
much to hope for. Pomare died in the
hands of usurers, and her son was only
able TO make both ends meet by selling his
prerogatlves to the French republic. The
tri-colored flag waves not only over the
custom houses AMI offices, but over the
Kings habitation. In consideration of
His MaJesty's feelings the words ''Liber-
ty, Fraternity, and Equality have not
yet been inscribed on his abode. That
trilogy might have been evolved in Po-
mare Jlule from the general state of So
ciety in her dOminiOns.
NJ. Gambetta, toward the end of his
career, was kept well posted up in the |
court gossip OF Otaheite, and urged the
buying out of the King. This operation
was conducted by NJ. de Freycinet, whose
uncle, Admiral de Freycinet, had, under
Duperrey, gone all over the Pacific, and
secretly recommended the governments
of Charles y. and Louis Philippe to flake
possession of Otaheite. 1t is supposed
that Queen Marau is visiting Paris to try
and obtain a pension from the French
Government, and through its good offices
prevent threats of litigation, which are
held over her, from being carried out. At
California she would only receive one re-
porter, and he did not get much out of
her. He did justice, however, to her
beauty and amiable and discreet man.
ners. thew York she was equally re-
tired and reserved. French COnsuls
awaited her at both places. lie Francois
est me gallant; the Queen is sure to be
pleased with her visit to Paris. She is
accompanied by a sister, who bears the
name Of Minihinihi Salmon, and "might
be taken for an undergraduate of Vassar
college who had been sent from New Or
leans to be educated there"