o, as he loved to tell, of a district in Anaa of 800
souls. In an evil hour it occurred to the authorities in Papeete to
charge the chiefs with the collection of the taxes. It is a question if
much were collected; it is certain that nothing was handed on; and
Taniera, who had distinguished himself by a visit to Papeete and some
high living in restaurants, was chosen for the scapegoat. The reader
must understand that not Taniera but the authorities in Papeete were
first in fault. The charge imposed was disproportioned. I have not yet
heard of any Polynesian capable of such a burden; honest and upright
Hawaiians--one in particular, who was admired even by the whites as an
inflexible magistrate--have stumbled in the narrow path of the trustee.
And Taniera, when the pinch came, scorned to denounce accomplices;
others had shared the spoil, he bore the penalty alone. He was condemned
in five years. The period, when I had the pleasure of his friendship,
was not yet expired; he still drew prison rations, the sole and not
unwelcome reminder of his chains, and, I believe, looked forward to the
date of his enfranchisement with mere alarm. For he had no sense of
shame in the position; complained of nothing but the defective table of
his place of exile; regretted nothing but the fowls and eggs and fish of
his own more favoured island. And as for his parishioners, they did not
think one hair the less of him. A schoolboy, mulcted in ten thousand
lines of Greek and dwelling sequestered in the dormitories, enjoys
unabated consideration from his fellows. So with Taniera: a marked man,
not a dishonoured; having fallen under the lash of the unthinkable gods;
a Job, perhaps, or say a Taniera in the den of lions. Songs are likely
made and sung about this saintly Robin Hood. On the other hand, he was
even highly qualified for his office in the Church; being by nature a
grave, considerate, and kindly man; his face rugged and serious, his
smile bright; the master of several trades, a builder both of boats and
houses; endowed with a fine pulpit voice; endowed besides with such a
gift of eloquence that at the grave of the late chief of Fakarava he set
all the assistants weeping. I never met a man of a mind more
ecclesiastical; he loved to dispute and to inform himself of doctrine
and the history of sects; and when I showed him the cuts in a volume of
Chambers's "Encyclopaedia"--except for one of an ape--reserved his whole
enthusiasm for cardinals'