POMARE IV: (1813-1877) Queen of Tahiti 1827-77. L.S., Pomare, two pages, 4to, on board 'the ship belonging to the ...

POMARE IV: (1813-1877) Queen of Tahiti 1827-77. L.S., Pomare, two pages, 4to, on board 'the ship belonging to the Queen' (HMS Basilisk, whilst in exile at Raiatea), 29th February 1844, to Captain Hunt, in Tahitian. In the manuscript letter the Queen makes a request of her correspondent, stating, in part, 'I have a word for you, but I am much afraid lest you should be angry with this word. It is this; come and take this sick man on shore, he has a bad disease and it is infectious. I am alarmed for my children, on that account. I write with some degree of fear to you Captain. But it is for you to decide. Should it be agreeable to you to take the sick man on shore, it will be well with me. Compassionate me in my troubles. I fear for my children, as they would not be able to go out of the reach of this disease'. Accompanied by a contemporary English translation penned to a separate 4to sheet of paper. Some light age wear and a small area of paper loss to the upper left corner of the Queen's letter, not affecting the text or signature, otherwise VG, 2 The present letter is dated during the bloody French-Tahitian War of 1843-47 at which time Queen Pomare IV exiled herself to Raiatea in protest of France declaring Tahiti a French protectorate. Queen Pomare IV was the mother to ten children, all fathered by her second husband. Seven of the children had been born before 1845, and two of those seven died at early ages.