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Each of the Earees keeps a kind of court, and has a great number of attendants, chiefly the younger brothers of their own tribe; and among these some hold particular offices, but of what nature exactly we could not tell. One was called the Eowa no l’Earee, and another the Whanno no l’Earee, and these were frequently dispatched to us with messages. Of all the courts of these Earees, that of Tootahah was the most splendid, as indeed might reasonably be expected, because he administered the government for Outou, his nephew, who was Earee rahie of Obereonoo, and lived upon his estate. The child of the baron or Earee, as well as of the sovereign or Earee rahie, succeeds to the title and honours of the father as soon as it is born: so that a baron, who was yesterday called Earee, and was approached with the ceremony of lowering the garments, so as to uncover the upper part of the body, is to-day, if his wife was last night delivered of a child, reduced to the rank of a private man, all marks of respect being transferred to the child, if it is suffered to live, though the father still continues possessor and administrator of his estate: probably this custom has its share, among other inducements, in forming the societies called Arreoy.
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Voyaging Accounts |  |
© Derived from Vols. II-III of the London 1773 edition: National Library of Australia call no. FERG 7243, pages 243 - 244, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/hv23/245.html