In the first place, the messengers were political personages, such as I never heard of elsewhere. They were under-chiefs -- latoai. How many latoai formerly belonged to Papara I do not know; but in our day there are two subdistricts of Papara, Faina and Oropaa, and Faina has eight latoai; Oropaa has six. The whole body of latoai in each district are known as Hiva, and to any one who cares for the beginnings of things they are the most interesting part of our old society, for the Hiva of Papara might have been the source of all modern notions -- Parliament, Civil Service, Army, Law Courts, Police, Aristocracy, Democracy, and Commune. The latoai were the chosen fighting chiefs or warriors, and they had, as a part of their functions, the duty of punishing or revenging insults offered to the head-chief; but they could also, and sometimes did, depose and exile a head-chief and name another or recall the old one. Their interference in this way makes one of the most dramatic motives in island history.

The messengers whom Teriirere i Tooarai sent to summon the Tevas were latoais or under-chiefs of Papara, and of three kinds: one messenger for the home district, one for the inner Tevas, and one for the outer Tevas. They bore an official name while on service; they inherited the position, and the office might be filled by any member of the family to represent the actual head.

The messenger that summoned the inner Tevas went to Vaiari, or, as it is commonly called, Papeari (Vai and Pape both mean water), to the head-chief Teriinui o Tahiti, who wore the Maro-ura, the girdle of

Indigenous Histories