Vahine Metua (1762? - )

Oliver confesses to being at a loss to describe the antecedents of Vahine Matua. He notes tha Adams lists her as a daughter of Aromaiterai (Papara and Mataoa) and Tetua Moeatua (sister of Amo, Ari'i of Papara. If so, she would have been a sister of Te Vahine Moeatua, the wife of Vehiatua I.

Oliver concedes Gunson's point that it was unusual for for Maohi uterine siblings to be so far apart in age. Te Vahine Moeatua would have been born about 1736, while Vahine Metua would have been born about 1762 (Gunson: 1964:63).

That said, as Oliver points out, whatever the true ancestry of Vahine Matua, she was clearly of sufficiently high status to marry the high ranking Ari'ipaea (1974: 3, 1290).

On the arrival of the Duff in 1797, Ari'ipaea had been dead for a year or so, but Vahine Metua enjoyed consirable power in Hitia'a, and also a sub-district of Ha'apaino, said by the Duff missionaries to have been given to her by her husband's younger brother, Vaeua (Oliver, 1974: 3, 1290).