- By the time of this story, in the summer of 1842, the French have already occupied the islands for a few weeks.
- The seeming strangeness of the native culture is immediately blotted out once the sailors arrive at the beach of Nukuheva, where there are more than 100 French soldiers who have set up a very European settlement. The two peoples are coexisting without violence, if uneasily.
- The French have installed a single king of the island (the partner of the "immodest" queen mentioned earlier), even though the island is occupied by several different tribes, each of whom behave as separate countries. If the king's power is questioned, the French feel totally okay with attacking and dominating dissenters with violence.
- Tommo tells the story of the wife of the British consulate, then living on the islands, and her meeting with a band of French soldiers. When they ask to see her, wanting to raise a French flag, she says that she won't do anything until their admiral comes himself to deliver the demand. The British flag stayed waving.