Omoo

Narrator

Also known as Paul

An unnamed sailor who tells the story. He leaves Imeeo aboard the Leviathan for its whaling cruise, while Doctor Long Ghost stays behind; he never sees or hears of the doctor again.

Chief mate

The unnamed chief mate of the Julia, responsible for much of the ship’s day-to-day command. He treats the narrator’s injured leg and is later identified as John Jermin.

Old man-of-war’s-man

An unnamed sailor whom the narrator recognizes from Rio de Janeiro.

Young sailor from Liverpool

An unnamed sailor whom the narrator had met four years earlier at a Liverpool boarding-house.

Captain Guy

Also known as The Cabin Boy · Paper Jack · Miss Guy

The young, slender, inexperienced captain of the Julia, also called “Little Jule.” He relies heavily on his chief mate, John Jermin, and the narrator says Guy’s hostility toward him and Doctor Long Ghost influenced Wilson’s treatment of them.

Steward

Also known as Cabin steward

The unnamed steward aboard the Julia, who serves the narrator and captain and later gives the narrator molasses. He helps restrain Bembo during the reef crisis and is among the men left aboard the Julia when others are taken to the French frigate.

John Jermin

Also known as Jermin

The Julia’s capable, short, thick-set chief mate, known for his courage and rough authority over the crew. He saves Bembo from being killed by the sailors and pilots the Julia safely into Papeetee Harbour.

Doctor Long Ghost

Also known as Long Doctor · Long Ghost · Peter

The Julia’s physician, a tall, learned, mischievous man who becomes the narrator’s close companion. After their adventures in Tahiti, he works with the narrator on an Imeeo plantation, then stays in Imeeo when the narrator sails aboard the Leviathan.

Bembo

Also known as Mowree · New Zealander · Luff

The Julia’s New Zealand harpooner, also called the Mowree and renamed “Luff” aboard ship. After fighting Sydney Ben, he tries to wreck the Julia on a reef, is subdued, and is later carried to sea in irons; what becomes of him is unknown.

Ship’s carpenter

Also known as Beauty · Chips

The Julia’s ugly-tempered carpenter, nicknamed Beauty and Chips. He openly defies John Jermin, briefly gets the better of him in a fight, and urges the crew to throw Bembo overboard.

Black cook

Also known as Baltimore

The Julia’s unnamed black cook, whom Doctor Long Ghost repeatedly targets with practical jokes. He raises the alarm when the ship is heading toward the reef.

Black Dan

Also known as Gruff Black Dan

A gruff sailor mentioned as a contrast to the good-natured cook; the text says no one dares take liberties with him. He is among the men held at the Calabooza.

French corvette commander

An unnamed French naval commander whom Captain Guy visits at Hytyhoo; his corvette later assists in recapturing deserters.

French officers

Two unnamed officers from the French corvette who accompany Captain Guy aboard the Julia at Hytyhoo.

Priests of Hytyhoo

Also known as Island clergy

An unnamed deputation of local priests who impose a taboo on the Julia to prevent disorder and desertion.

Leader of the priests

The unnamed leader of the Hytyhoo priests who gives the strip of white tappa used as the symbol of the taboo.

King of the Bay

An unnamed island king who offers a musket and powder to encourage the capture of the Julia’s deserters.

Lem Hardy

Also known as Hardee-Hardee · Hardee-Hardee, the white

An English sailor who deserted to Hivarhoo about ten years earlier, became a tribe’s military leader and war-god, and married a princess. He tells the narrator about the island’s customs and is an honorary Grand Master of its tattooers.

Noomai

The King of Hannamanoo and Hardy’s royal ally. During a time of scarcity, he provides hospitality to tattooers in exchange for their working without charge on poor petitioners.

Wymontoo

Also known as Wymontoo-Hee

A native of Hannamanoo who joins the Julia’s crew for clothing, tobacco, and other goods. He is baptized aboard with the nautical name “Luff,” though the narrator continues to call him Wymontoo.

Navy Bob

Also known as Bob

A stout old sailor aboard the Julia who falls asleep in the forecastle and becomes the target of a shipmate’s rope prank. He is later taken aboard the French frigate and remarks on its sailors’ treatment of boys.

First deceased sailor

An unnamed, unsocial and unpopular invalid who dies beside the narrator’s bunk. His crew mates dispose of his locked chest after his burial.

Second deceased sailor

An unnamed invalid who falls from his hammock during a fit and dies soon after the first sailor. Antone, a Portuguese shipmate, marks a cross on his burial hammock.

Antone

A Portuguese sailor from the Cape-de-Verd Islands. He says a prayer over the second dead sailor, his countryman, and draws a cross on the burial hammock.

Van

Also known as The Finn · Sea-prophet

An old, yellow-haired Finnish sailor aboard the Julia, known for his seal-skin cap and pouch. He predicts that fewer than a quarter of the crew will remain aboard within three weeks.

Flash Jack

A sailor aboard the Julia who teases Rope Yarn with a nostalgic story about breakfasts in London. He dismisses Van’s prediction as foolish, joins the Calabooza crew’s foraging, and helps trick Doctor Johnson.

Cooper

Also known as Bungs

The Julia’s cooper and one of the forecastle’s leaders, known as one of the “Cods” and as Bungs. He secretly siphons Pisco from the hold, becomes the crew’s spokesman during their dispute with the consul, and later gives evidence against the mutineers.

Dunk

A good-natured, square-faced Danish sailor aboard the Julia. Bungs jokingly mocks him with a pantomime of Lord Nelson, and he helps restrain Bembo during the reef crisis.

Rope Yarn

Also known as Ropey

A timid, awkward former London baker who joins the Julia as a landsman and briefly serves as steward. His shipmates exploit his kindness and make him a frequent target of jokes and rough treatment; he later dies in a Tahitian sailor hospital.

Mother Moll

A London muffin-maker whom Rope Yarn remembers from his days as a journeyman baker.

Betty

A waitress at Mother Moll’s tavern, recalled by Rope Yarn in his imagined account of a London breakfast.

Long Jim

Also known as Lacedaemonian Jim

A sailor aboard the Julia who says he has been to Tahiti and offers to pilot the ship into port.

Pomaree

Also known as The Queen of Tahiti

Queen of Tahiti, also called Pomaree Vahinee I and Aimata. A daughter of Pomaree II and granddaughter of Otoo, she is twice married and rules during the French protectorate; the narrator describes her exile, family, court, and troubled relationship with her husband.

Merenhout

A French consul at Tahiti, Dutch by birth, who for many years dominated the Coral Islands’ pearl-shell trade. The French later make him Commissioner Royal; the Tahitians bitterly detest him.

Quiros

A Spanish navigator who is said to have touched at Tahiti over two centuries earlier.

Wallis

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti.

Byron

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti.

Cook

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti. The narrator also credits Cook with introducing foreign fruits to Tahiti; Captain Bob claims Cook knew his wife, then clarifies that he meant his father.

De Bourgainville

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti and described Tahiti as resembling the Garden of Eden.

Vancouver

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti. The narrator later names him, with Cook, among the islands’ benefactors; he also left livestock in the Society Islands.

Le Perouse

A navigator who refitted his vessel in Tahiti.

Omai

A Tahitian brought to London, where he was received by nobles, scholars, and ladies.

Aotooroo

A Tahitian brought to Paris, where he was received by nobles, scholars, and ladies.

Rear-Admiral Du Petit Thouars

Also known as Du Petit Thouars

The French rear-admiral whose flag flies aboard the frigate Reine Blanche in Tahiti during the forced cession of the island to France. He demands restitution and imposes a protectorate over Tahiti.

Pritchard

A missionary consul in Tahiti who is absent in England. He temporarily leaves his office in the hands of Wilson.

Wilson

Also known as Wilson the younger · Acting consul

An educated white man born in Tahiti and the son of a missionary. He temporarily fills Pritchard’s consul post, is unpopular among locals and foreigners, and orders the Julia’s mutineers detained and sent to the Calabooza.

Doctor Johnson

An English resident physician of Papeetee who examines the Julia’s sick sailors for Wilson. At the Calabooza he visits the detained men and supplies medicines, which they turn into a drinking joke.

Salem

A young American sailor who joined the Julia at the Islands about four months earlier. He helps save the ship from the reef and confronts Bembo when the crew attempts to kill him.

Sydney Ben

Also known as Ben · Ticket-of-Leave-Man · the convict

A sailor aboard the Julia, said to be a runaway Ticket-of-Leave-Man. He fights Bembo after insulting him and is led below injured.

Viner

Jermin’s former shipmate and the lost third mate of the barque Jane, long presumed dead. After surviving a wreck and massacre, he settles in Tahiti and owns a schooner trading among nearby islands.

Captain of the Jane

The unnamed captain of the barque Jane, whose boat capsizes after a Lascar aboard goes mad; he is among those lost in the disaster.

Lascar sailor

An unnamed sailor aboard the Jane’s captain’s boat who goes mad after the shipwreck, prompting the crew’s attempt to put him overboard.

Third deceased Jane sailor

An unnamed survivor from the Jane’s wreck who quarrels with islanders over a woman, leading to the massacre of the boat’s crew. Viner survives because he is in another village.

Jim the pilot

Also known as Jim

An old Tahitian harbour pilot who arrives in a canoe with a boy and takes charge of bringing the Julia to anchor. He considers the ship’s unceremonious entry an insult to his office.

Canoe boy

An unnamed island boy who paddles Jim the pilot’s canoe and is repeatedly struck by him to make him paddle faster.

First lieutenant of the Reine Blanche

Also known as Old Gamboge

An unnamed elderly, bald French officer with an enormous moustache. Nicknamed Old Gamboge by the Julia’s sailors, he receives the detained crew aboard the frigate.

Meek midshipman

An unnamed midshipman aboard the Reine Blanche who is called after the detained Julia sailors are counted.

Sailor-soldiers

Unnamed armed sailors aboard the Reine Blanche who take custody of the Julia’s detained crew.

Ship’s corporal

An unnamed, pompous frigate functionary whom the detained sailors mistake for a corporal as he escorts them below.

Frigate sentry

An unnamed, large sailor aboard the Reine Blanche who guards the detained Julia crew and attends to their irons.

Soup-serving boy

An unnamed boy aboard the Reine Blanche who brings the detained sailors their thin soup.

English sailor on the Reine Blanche

An unnamed person whom the detained sailors take for an English sailor; he tosses them oranges.

Boatswain’s mate

An unnamed officer aboard the Reine Blanche who beats two boys with a rattan and drives away the other boys who plead for them.

Punished boys

Two unnamed boys aboard the Reine Blanche who are sent below for punishment and beaten with a rattan.

Sympathetic boys

Unnamed young sailors aboard the Reine Blanche who accompany the punished boys and plead for them.

French midshipman

An unnamed midshipman aboard the Reine Blanche who orders the boatswain’s mate on deck and scatters the boys.

Two elderly European residents

Two unnamed European residents of Tahiti who sit with Wilson during the questioning of the detained Julia sailors.

Questioning official

An unnamed European resident who questions the narrator about his refusal to return to duty and cautions him about the consequences.

Fat old native guide

Also known as Capin Bob · Captain Bob

A large, jovial Tahitian who serves as Wilson’s jailer and guides the detained sailors to the Calabooza Beretanee. He treats them kindly, feeds them, allows them some freedom, and tells the narrator he once sailed on a whaling vessel.

Sailor with Fa-Fa

An unnamed sailor whom the narrator later encounters on Roorootoo, suffering from severe elephantiasis and unable to find passage away from the island.

Captain Guy’s captain

An unnamed captain whom the narrator says refused to take the sailor with Fa-Fa aboard as a passenger and insisted he remain on Roorootoo.

French priests Laval and Caset

Also known as Laval · Caset

Two French Catholic priests who are persecuted and expelled from Tahiti by the islanders, then carried to Wallis’ island. Their treatment becomes the principal grievance behind Du Petit Thouars’s demand for satisfaction.

French resident Victor

Also known as Victor

A French resident from Marseilles described by the narrator as a disreputable adventurer. The Tahitian government confiscates his liquor because the law against spirits traffic is in force.

M. Bruat

Also known as Bruat

The French governor left in charge of Tahiti after Du Petit Thouars establishes the protectorate. He intimidates Queen Pomaree, appoints compliant chiefs, and seeks to seize and execute other chiefs.

Reine

A French civilian appointed to the Council of Government under Governor Bruat. The narrator says the natives did not dislike him.

Carpegne

A French civilian appointed to the Council of Government under Governor Bruat. The narrator says the natives did not dislike him.

Louis Philippe

The French king to whom Queen Pomaree writes, asking him to remove Governor Bruat.

Adeea

A Tahitian chief whose house hosts discussions about whether the island can resist the French.

Kitoti

A Tahitian chief whom Governor Bruat pays to assist his designs. He gives a feast in the Vale of Paree to win over his countrymen.

Tati

A Tahitian chief appointed by Bruat to govern one of the four districts created under French rule.

Utamai

A Tahitian chief appointed by Bruat to govern one of the four districts created under French rule.

Paraita

A Tahitian chief appointed by Bruat to govern one of the four districts created under French rule.

Lefevre

A Frenchman described as a notorious scoundrel and spy, sent by Bruat to guide Major Fergus to the hiding place of four chiefs. The natives kill him in a mountain pass.

Major Fergus

A major said to be Polish, whom Bruat sends with Lefevre to find four chiefs the governor intends to seize and execute.

Aged warrior of the Aeorai Society

An unnamed elderly Tahitian warrior, formerly head of the Aeorai Society, who speaks at Kitoti’s feast and condemns the French and their Tahitian collaborators.

Wild Tahitian girl

An unnamed young woman who visits the Calabooza and laughs at Black Dan and the other detained sailors.

Jingling Joe

Also known as Joseph

A sailor at the Calabooza whom the men pretend is gravely ill to fool Doctor Johnson. His name is given as Joseph on the doctor’s medicine label.

Father Murphy

An Irish Catholic priest from County Meath, well known and disliked in Protestant missionary settlements across Polynesia. He befriends Pat and brings food and clothing to the detained sailors.

Pat

A sixteen-year-old Irish sailor from Meath detained at the Calabooza. Father Murphy befriends him and tries to secure his release, but Pat refuses to return to the Julia.

M’Gee

A melancholy-looking Irish sailor at the Calabooza, reportedly transported to Sydney. The narrator describes him as a dangerous criminal.

Old Mother Tot

Also known as Mother Tot

An Englishwoman who runs rough huts serving sailors rum and dice throughout the South Seas, repeatedly reopening after authorities shut her down. She hates Wilson and humiliates him when she catches him drunk.

Josy

A one-eyed English cobbler who follows Old Mother Tot, does her cooking and mending, and quietly reads his battered Bible despite her abuse.

Mack

Also known as the Commodore

A Scottish beachcomber in Tahiti who leads an organized gang of discharged sailors. The gang controls who may sign on with ships in port.

Mahinee

An old Tahitian chief and judge who keeps the sailors’ chests in his custody and presides over local court proceedings held at the Calabooza.

Poky

A handsome youth on an unnamed island near Tahiti who becomes the narrator’s friend. He brings him food and curiosities, guides him around the island, and sees him off when his ship sails.

Daughter of a chief

An unnamed young woman whose beauty is known on neighbouring islands. Tooboi, heir of Tamatory, is among her suitors.

Tooboi

The heir of Tamatory, King of Eaiatair, and a suitor to the daughter of a chief on an island visited by the narrator.

Tamatory

The King of Eaiatair in the Society Isles and father of Tooboi.

Kooloo

A Tahitian youth who becomes the narrator’s friend, claims to be a church member, and professes great affection. After receiving the narrator’s gifts, he transfers his attentions to another sailor.

Arheetoo

An intelligent Tahitian and church member who debates which day to observe as the Sabbath. He asks the narrator to forge character certificates for his laundry business, but the narrator declines.

Old warder of Hotoo-Otoo

An unnamed, apparently mute sentry who guards Queen Pomaree’s fortified island residence. He drives the narrator away when he attempts to land.

Old missionary, Wilson’s father

Also known as Wilson’s father

An elderly, white-haired missionary and the only survivor of the first missionaries to land in Tahiti. He lives at Point Venus and is the father of consul Wilson.

Matron in gingham

An unnamed missionary woman who gives the narrator a kind, inquisitive glance on the Broom Road.

Missionary’s wife

An unnamed older woman sitting with a young blonde girl on a missionary’s verandah. She gives the narrator a disapproving look.

Blonde missionary girl

An unnamed pretty young girl with ringlets who sits on a missionary’s verandah and screams when the narrator greets her.

Native church missionary

An unnamed elderly missionary who preaches at the native church in Papeetee. He leaves the management of the noisy congregation to local people.

Native church choir

A group of twelve or fifteen unnamed mission women who sing with the congregation at the native church.

Native church attendants

Several unnamed strong men in white shirts who try to quiet the congregation by moving among the pews, creating a racket of their own.

Meek Sabbath-school boy

An unnamed small boy sitting beside the Sabbath-school teacher who is struck when the other pupils misbehave.

Old man in the native church

An unnamed elderly Tahitian in a coarse tappa mantle who stands during service and is forced into a seat by an attendant.

Hawaiian sailor interpreter

Also known as Jack

An intelligent Hawaiian sailor who interprets a missionary’s sermon for the narrator.

Farnow

An old Tahitian who has retired from serving as a kind of running footman to the queen. He lives near the Calabooza and has three daughters.

Ideea

The eldest of Farnow’s three daughters and a church member. She explains to the narrator that her church membership does not reflect all aspects of her conduct.

Farnow’s younger daughters

The two unnamed younger sisters of Ideea, daughters of Farnow and church members. They play a guessing game with Doctor Long Ghost.

Religious police

Also known as Kannakippers · Boora-Artuas

Unnamed local officials who enforce church attendance and morality rules, collect fines, and intrude into people’s homes. Islanders privately call them “Pray-to-Gods.”

Runaway lovers

An unnamed married man and another man’s wife who flee into an uninhabited valley and live there for about ninety days. After their capture, they are sentenced to labor on the Broom Road.

M. Kussell

A clergyman who wrote a work about Christian missions in Polynesia and quoted earlier authorities on the subject.

Kotzebue

A Russian navigator whose observations criticize aspects of missionary work and describe its effects on Tahitian life.

Captain Beechy

Also known as Beechy

A captain who visited Tahiti and wrote about the islanders’ condition and their contact with Europeans.

Turnbull

An author whose earlier account of Tahiti is cited by Captain Beechy.

Daniel Wheeler

Also known as Wheeler · Old Quaker Wheeler

A Quaker philanthropist who visited missionary settlements in the South Seas around 1834, including Tahiti, and recorded his observations of the islanders.

Rev. Mr. Simpson

Also known as Simpson

A missionary who, with his wife, runs a seminary on Imeeo for the children of missionaries.

Simpson’s wife

The unnamed wife of Rev. Mr. Simpson, who helps run the missionaries’ children’s seminary on Imeeo.

Captain Wilson

The captain who took the first missionaries to Tahiti. He is cited as describing the islanders’ ideas of decency.

Williams

A missionary known as the martyr of Erromanga. He recounts an instance of islanders who professed Christianity later reviving their heathen customs.

Captain Ellis

Also known as Ellis

The author of Polynesian Researches, criticized by Captain Beechy for presenting too elevated an impression of Tahitian society.

Pomaree II

A Tahitian ruler, son and successor of Otoo, and father of Pomaree III and Queen Aimata (Pomaree Vahinee I). A missionary convert and supporter, he was defeated and exiled during religious wars, then returned with an army and reclaimed the throne; he died in 1821.

Tyreman

A deputy of the London Missionary Society who visited Pomaree II with Bennet.

Bennet

A deputy of the London Missionary Society who visited Pomaree II with Tyreman.

Teearmoar

The high priest of Paree, who lived more than a century earlier and is credited with a prophecy that people would disappear from the land.

The two planters

Two unnamed former sailors who establish a plantation in Imeeo and hire the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost as laborers.

Zeke

Also known as The Yankee

A tall, robust, illiterate Yankee from Maine who runs an Imeeo plantation with Shorty. Frank, resolute, and industrious, he takes the narrator on a hunt for wild cattle.

Shorty

Also known as The Cockney

A short, good-looking, illiterate young Cockney who runs an Imeeo plantation with Zeke. He sings while working and handles the plantation when Zeke goes hunting.

Farnow’s old woman

An unnamed elderly woman living alone in a hut in an Imeeo valley. She is left to care for Doctor Long Ghost after he feigns a fit.

Tonoi

The chief of the fishermen in the Valley of Martair, who claims kinship with Queen Pomaree and an old priestly line. He sells land to the planters, offers his daughters as wives, and guides Zeke and the narrator through the hills.

Tonoi’s brother

An unnamed brother of Tonoi who was killed by a wild bullock in the hills.

Tammahamaha III

Also known as Tammahammaha III

The king of Hawaii who, as a young ruler, claimed ownership of the wild cattle and profited from their slaughter before imposing a hunting taboo.

Pelee

A volcano goddess in Hawaiian legend, believed to guard the inland valleys and punish intruders with streams of fire.

Spanish hunters

A party of unnamed skilled hunters from California who began the large-scale slaughter of wild cattle in Hawaii.

Coleman

Also known as Nathan Cole-man

A whaling captain from Nantucket who, after an unsatisfactory complaint before a native tribunal, left a rotten water-cask in a warm Taro patch; the narrator says this caused the mosquitoes.

Rartoo

A hospitable old chief of Tamai who hosts the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost and secretly arranges for them to witness a traditional dance.

Afrehitoo missionary

An unnamed missionary in Afrehitoo, whose sermon on theft addresses locals stealing potatoes from an English grower.

English potato grower

An unnamed Englishman in Afrehitoo who grows potatoes for the Papeetee market and complains to the missionary about thefts from his plot.

Young damsel of the grove

An unnamed young woman who dances with Doctor Long Ghost at the plantation’s hunting feast.

Tamai dancers

A group of unnamed young women who perform the Lory-Lory dance in secret. Two of them lead the dance, and one later rebukes Doctor Long Ghost when he accuses her of taking part.

Visiting elders from Afrehitoo

Unnamed, prim-looking men who are visiting Tamai and stand nearby when Doctor Long Ghost questions the dancers.

Old clothesman of Tamai

Also known as Goblin

An unnamed, grotesque old man in a coarse tappa mantle who follows the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost around Tamai. He secretly tries to sell the narrator a pair of old sailor trousers.

Rartoo’s household women

Several unnamed women who warn the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost to flee Tamai when missionaries arrive with people who may identify them as runaway sailors.

Billy Loon

A jolly little Black man who serves as a royal drummer and tambourine player at the court of Tammahamaha III.

Joe

A wooden-legged Portuguese court musician who plays violin for Tammahamaha III; he lost his leg to a whale.

Mordecai

A court entertainer at the court of Tammahamaha III, described as a disreputable-looking juggler who performs tricks with cups and balls.

Auctioneer to the king

An unnamed auctioneer who was invited by a Sandwich Islands king to join his court retinue, but declined.

Welsh cupbearer

An unnamed Welshman who serves as cupbearer to a Tongan king, preparing and presenting his morning drink.

Royal barber

An unnamed former man-of-war’s-man who serves as barber to a Tongan king and tends the king’s hair and scalp.

Darby

An unnamed elderly Tahitian man who lives with Joan in a beach hut on Imeeo. He speaks a little English, having once lived in Papeetee, and welcomes the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost.

Joan

An unnamed elderly Tahitian woman who lives with Darby in a beach hut on Imeeo. She and Darby warmly host the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost.

Farnowar

Also known as Day-Born

A young woman from the Imeeo hamlet of Loohooloo, one of the three girls who welcome the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost. Her name is glossed as “the Day-Born.”

Earnoopoo

Also known as Night-Born

A young woman from Loohooloo who welcomes the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost with two companions. Her name is glossed as “the Night-Born.”

Marhar-Rarrar

Also known as Wakeful · Bright-Eyed

A young woman from Loohooloo, recognized by her long braided hair and forward manner. Her name is glossed as “the Wakeful” or “Bright-Eyed.”

Marharvai

A tall, bald, white-bearded elder of Loohooloo who welcomes the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost into his home and hosts them. He is a petty chief who owns nearby lands.

Young woman of Tamai

Also known as Misa Day-Born

An unnamed young Tamai woman whom the narrator identifies by the title “Day-Born.” Doctor Long Ghost kisses her while she watches the dinner gathering.

Native lad serving Lownee

An unnamed island boy who walks among the dinner guests with a bamboo staff and serves them Lownee.

Atee Poee

Also known as Pudding Head

A pompous, unnamed man-of-war captain who visits Tahiti for a second time. Tahitians give him the nickname “Atee Poee,” meaning “Pudding Head.”

First husband of the present queen

Also known as Pot Belly

An unnamed son of the old King of Tahar and first husband of Queen Pomaree. The marriage ends in divorce; the narrator recalls that he was mockingly nicknamed “Pot Belly.”

First monarch named Pomaree

An unnamed early monarch whose name, Pomaree, is said to have originated as a mocking nickname after he awoke with a cold during a war expedition.

Old hermit of Taloo

Also known as Varvy

An elderly islander who lives alone near Taloo and secretly makes liquor from Tee in a hidden still. Though he pretends to be deaf and dumb, he briefly speaks and hosts the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost.

Jeremiah Po-Po

Also known as Ereemear Po-Po · Po-Po · Narmo-Nana Po-Po

A wealthy, hospitable Imeeo landowner and petty chief of Partoowye, related to a high chief. He is a church deacon and, in the narrator’s judgment, a genuine Christian.

Arfretee

Also known as Po-Po’s wife

Po-Po’s generous, motherly wife, who welcomes the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost, provides them with clothes, and shares her husband’s Christian devotion.

Loo

Also known as Little Loo

Po-Po and Arfretee’s fourteen-year-old daughter, a reserved and beautiful young woman. She silently rejects Doctor Long Ghost’s advances by pricking him with a thorn.

Young dandy, Po-Po’s son

An unnamed, fashionably dressed son of Po-Po and Arfretee who is Loo’s brother. He helps with household tasks and sleeps in a sailor’s hammock.

Po-Po’s twin daughters

Two unnamed young twin daughters of Po-Po and Arfretee, described as delicate and lively.

Younger son of Po-Po

An unnamed boy, younger than the twins, who is one of Po-Po and Arfretee’s children.

Indigent relations of Po-Po

Two or three unnamed elderly women who are poor relations supported in Po-Po and Arfretee’s household.

Monee

Po-Po’s bald, energetic old factotum, who cooks, serves as butler, and climbs bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees. He is also a favourite of Arfretee’s.

Unnamed carpenter of Partoowye

Also known as Yankee house-carpenter

An enterprising Yankee carpenter who built a block of wooden houses in Partoowye for a chief who later went bankrupt. The carpenter left the island to escape his unpaid creditors.

William

Also known as Bill · Willie

An English runaway ship’s carpenter who prospers in Imeeo fitting out chiefs’ homes. He loves Lullee but cannot marry her until he meets the residency requirement in the island’s marriage law.

Lullee

A young island woman loved by William, the English carpenter. Her attention has begun to shift toward visitors from Tahar.

Chief from Tahar

An unnamed chief from Tahar who lives with Lullee’s household and is a rival for her attention.

Leviathan sailors

Several unnamed sailors aboard the whaler Leviathan who warn the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost about the ship’s conditions and recent desertions.

Gruff old sailor of the Leviathan

An unnamed older sailor aboard the Leviathan who says one boat crew was lost while whaling and the starboard watch deserted.

Belfast sailor of the Leviathan

A curly-haired little sailor from Belfast aboard the Leviathan who urges the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost to leave before the skipper can force them to sea.

Dick

An unnamed Leviathan sailor whom the Belfast sailor calls to help the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost get away in their canoe.

Mate of the Leviathan

An unnamed mate aboard the Leviathan whose voice the narrator hears and takes as a sign that he is a true sailor rather than a taskmaster.

Skipper of the Leviathan

The unnamed captain of the Leviathan, who is ashore trying to recapture deserters and is feared by the remaining sailors.

Six veteran rovers

Six unnamed former whalers who buy a sailboat, drink heavily, lose two men overboard, wreck the boat on Imeeo, and later flee after breaking local laws.

Two drowned rovers

Two unnamed sailors from the band of six rovers who fall overboard and drown during their drunken voyage.

Commodore of the rovers

An unnamed member of the six rovers who takes the helm during their stormy voyage and steers the boat toward Imeeo.

Captain Crash

A disgraced former colonial naval officer who lost an armed brig off New Zealand and now lives among the islands. He secretly sells French liquor, is tried for causing disorder, and is sentenced to permanent banishment.

Young girl tried with Captain Crash

An unnamed fourteen-year-old girl tried alongside Captain Crash for misconduct. She is sentenced to make six mats for the queen.

Hereditary judge of Partoowye

An unnamed benevolent-looking old man who is an hereditary chief and lifelong district judge. He presides over the noisy trial of Captain Crash and the young girl.

Old man in the Partoowye church

An unnamed irritable elderly man who wears a nightcap of cocoa-nut leaves and noisily leaves services when displeased.

Otoo

Also known as Otto

An early king of Tahiti, father and predecessor of Pomaree II and grandfather of Queen Pomaree. With the aid of the Bounty’s men, he extended his rule over the island and changed his name to Pomaree before his death.

Pomaree III

The infant son and successor of Pomaree II, who died six years after his father. The throne then passed to his elder sister, Aimata.

Queen’s mother

An unnamed mother of Queen Pomaree who, like her daughter, was excommunicated from the Church for a time.

Queen’s present husband

Also known as Pomaree-Tanee · Tanee

An unnamed chief of Imeeo and Queen Pomaree’s current husband, addressed as “Pomaree-Tanee” (“Pomaree’s man”). The narrator describes his drinking and recounts an episode in which he assaulted the queen while intoxicated; he was briefly banished to Imeeo.

Queen Victoria

Also known as Victoria

The English queen, described as Pomaree’s sister, who sent her a crown.

Court artilleryman

An unnamed elderly, heavyset palace official who announces the queen’s arrivals and departures by rapidly firing small fowling-pieces.

Friends and boon companions of Tanee

Unnamed drinking companions who commiserate with Tanee after he is dismissed from the queen’s presence and take him to buy spirits.

Illicit vendor of spirits

An unnamed seller of alcohol whose home is where Tanee and his companions drink before his assault on the queen.

Poofai

A bold, capable Tahitian chief and leader of the party opposed to Queen Pomaree’s government and the missionaries’ influence. A report that he agreed to accept a bribe for French annexation is later discredited; several chiefs of his party die fighting the French.

Old kings of Taiarboo

An unnamed line of former rulers whose descendants are powerful chiefs hostile to Queen Pomaree’s family, which dethroned them.

Tararroa

A deity in Polynesian mythology, identified by the narrator as the Saturn-like figure from whom Tahitian monarchs claimed descent.

King George

A king whom the young Otoo compares himself to when boasting to the first missionaries.

Marbonna

A Marquesan runaway sailor from Tior, a glen of Nukuheva, who serves as nurse to Queen Pomaree’s children. His connection with the narrator helps the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost gain entry to the queen’s grounds.

Queen’s two boys

Two unnamed young sons in Queen Pomaree’s household whom Marbonna carries and who trace the tattoos on his face.

Venerable chamberlain

An unnamed elderly palace chamberlain who controls entry to Queen Pomaree’s grounds and admits the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost after receiving tobacco.

Little court guide

An unnamed young woman of Queen Pomaree’s court who guides the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost through the palace. After they approach the queen without permission, two men escort her away.

European member of the Pomaree family

An unnamed former mate of a merchant vessel who married a close relative of Queen Pomaree and became a permanent member of her household. The narrator describes him as self-satisfied and theatrical.

Queen’s female attendants

Unnamed women in the palace who escort Queen Pomaree to her meal, prepare her place, and carry her food.

Leviathan captain

Also known as Vineyarder · Vine-yarder

An unnamed tall, robust captain from Martha’s Vineyard who commands the Leviathan on its final whaling cruise toward Japan. He hires the narrator after identifying him as a Yankee, but refuses to take Doctor Long Ghost because he suspects him of being from Sydney.

Third mate of the Leviathan

Also known as The Prussian

An unnamed Prussian, jovial former merchant seaman who befriends the narrator and Doctor Long Ghost and tells them favorable accounts of the Leviathan.

Mai-Mai

A portly old Tahitian who, for a fee, entertains distinguished visitors in Partoowye. The Leviathan captain is visiting him when the narrator seeks to establish that he is American.