At Tahiti again, which the Imogene reached on November 13, having left Hawaii on October 17 and met adverse winds which reduced her progress to.300 miles for the first week in November, the discrepancies of unofficial envoys made diplomacy difficult. H.M.S. Conway arrived shortly after the Imogene, and Bruce explained the situation with a more Philosophical humour than he shows in his religious comments:—
The Conway brought presents for Queen Pomare from our Government, so that while I was lecturing her Majesty and her Authorities for breaking into the houses of British Subjects, and otherwise ill-treaty them; and vice versa; the Conway was presenting her with two soiled sowns, a handsome pink bonnet, an ugly soiled cap and some ribbands cut into five fathom lengths. Pomare is an interesting woman; she is a decided Christian, and very well conducted; is married and has had three children, who all died young; she is warmly attached to the English, who I am sorry to say behave very ill, and give her the greatest trouble in her own country; ships ought to be sent more frequently to protect her from British insult, as well as to look after British interests; she dined on board with me, and wrote me a letter besides giving me one in Charge for our King.
But Tahiti did not interest Bruce deeply, although he would doubtless have regretted that it should later belong to France; and after marking with a black blob in the log the date November 16, when the Conway told him of William IV's death, he sailed for Valparaiso by way of Pitcairn. His next two letters, one of which is to Lady Troubridge, were sent from Valparaiso and consisted of praise for the Pitcairn Islanders with a few sneers at the American Navy—pure snobbery and nothing bette:
The. Yankee officers wish to be very friendly with the English; one of them said "come now, I expect we ought to be particular sociable: do just come and see us in a familiar way; just come you know; put on round jacket and a dirty shirt."
Of Pitcairn and the Christian desfendants of the Bounty mutineers he wrote that, if the island were a three-decker, he would be glad to command it.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.