PROCEEDINGS OF THE FRENCH AT TAHITI AS I happened to arrive at the island at a very interesting period in its political affairs, it may be well to give some little account here of the proceedings of the French, by way of episode to the narrative.

My information was obtained at the time from the general reports then rife among the natives, as well as from what I learned upon a subsequent visit, and reliable accounts which I have seen since reaching home.
It seems that for some time back the French had been making repeated ineffectual attempts to plant a Roman Catholic mission here.

But, invariably treated with contumely, they sometimes met with open violence; and, in every case, those directly concerned in the enterprise were ultimately forced to depart.

In one instance, two priests, Laval and Caset, after enduring a series of persecutions, were set upon by the natives, maltreated, and finally carried aboard a small trading schooner, which eventually put them ashore at Wallis' island--a savage place--some two thousand miles to the westward.
Now, that the resident English missionaries authorized the banishment of these priests is a fact undenied by themselves.

I was also repeatedly informed that by their inflammatory harangues they instigated the riots which preceded the sailing of the schooner.