Pour le père Patrick O'Reilly, Mrs Hort serait « l'épouse du Hort payant patente de négociant et de marchand à Tahiti dans les années 1860 » ¹.  Il est vrai que l'auteur semble prendre plaisir à brouiller les pistes : l'héroïne-narratrice de son récit évoque son mari « comme un personnage étranger qu'elle nomme A ».

« Mrs Hort tient d'une plume parfois pittoresque et souvent assez malveillante la chronique féminine des potins locaux. Et comme elle est reçue partout, chez la Reine, au gouvernement, à la mission, sur les navires de guerre de passage, que les noms propres sont en général cités, qu'elle a de bons yeux et invente avec aisance ce qu'elle n'a pas vu, son récit est fort amusant pour les amateurs de la petite histoire, et montre assez bien par le gros bout de la lorgnette le côté sous-préfecture coloniale de Papeete au temps de l'irascible gouverneur de La Roncière. Les fonctionnaires n'en sortent pas grandis, Mrs Hort non plus. »

EXTRAIT

Paradise itself could scarcely boast of more transcendent charms than exist on the island of Tahiti ; charms which are dimmed by the acts of a corrupt administration that fails to study the prosperity of the country, preferring to pursue an illegal course to its detriment. Every description of baneful influence at present exists on the island, and will continue to exist so long as Governors of the De la Ronciere stamp are sent to Tahiti. I fail to comprehend what object the French Home Government have in increasing their colonies when they so culpably neglect those already in their possession. The French Protectorate of Tahiti dates from the same period that the British flag was hoisted at New Zealand, yet up to the present moment neither a bank nor even an exchange office exists in the colony, and Le Messager de Tahiti in its original form, continues to be the only newspaper in circulation. That no one has been enterprising enough to introduce a more improved order of things is explained by the fact, that at Tahiti foreign innovations do not meet with the proper kind of encouragement. M. de Juslard succeeded M. de la Ronciere, but he was scarcely the man to cope with the situation, neither did he feel disposed to interfere in the past policy of the Government, or to weed the administration of its unworthy members, as he had merely accepted the position pro tem. That onerous duty was to devolve on his successor. The frigate Astrée, commanded by Admiral Cloué, arrived at Tahiti for the purpose of investigating the conduct of the late Governor, which he entirely condemned ; but what sort of redress was that to those who had sustained immense pecuniary losses, or had been subjected to harsh treatment and cruel injustice, as in the case of the Ordonnateur ? When we bade a final adieu to the Garden of the Pacific, there seemed a prospect of its resuming the normal state of comparative fredom from that detrimental tracasserie which is the acme of French colonial policy. ☐ pp. 350-351