CHAPTER LXXXI.
WE VISIT THE COURT IT WAS about the middle of the second month of the Hegira, and therefore some five weeks after our arrival in Partoowye, that we at last obtained admittance to the residence of the queen.
It happened thus.

There was a Marquesan in the train of Pomaree who officiated as nurse to her children.

According to the Tahitian custom, the royal youngsters are carried about until it requires no small degree of strength to stand up under them.

But Marbonna was just the man for this--large and muscular, well made as a statue, and with an arm like a degenerate Tahitian's thigh.
Embarking at his native island as a sailor on board of a French whaler, he afterward ran away from the ship at Tahiti; where, being seen and admired by Pomaree, he had been prevailed upon to enlist in her service.
Often, when visiting the grounds, we saw him walking about in the shade, carrying two handsome boys, who encircled his neck with their arms.

Marbonna's face, tattooed as it was in the ornate style of his tribe, was as good as a picture-book to these young Pomarees.