These twelve Maraes of Tahiti-nui, or great Tahiti, were of course quite independent of those in the peninsula of Taiarapu -- Tahiti-iti, or little Tahiti. In Taiarapu the old districts were much changed by war, and the names have not kept their old meanings. Formerly the southern end of the peninsula, consisting of two districts, Taiarapu and Hui, formed one chiefery, called Teahupoo, whose head-chief bore the title Vehiatua, and whose Marae was Tapuanini or Matahihae. The northern part, Vairao and Afaahiti, had no common head, but the chief-ess of Vairao, Tetuau meretini, had the Marae Nuutere. The eastern part formerly contained a large and very powerful chiefery called Tautira, which was conquered and its chief's line. extinguished by Vehiatua. The great Marae of Tautira was supposed to be peculiarly sacred to the God Oro, a sort of Tahitian Osiris, to whom the human sacrifices were made.

Thanks to the Maraes, the social rank of chiefs in the South Seas was so well known or so easily learned that few serious mistakes could be possible. On this foundation genealogy grew into a science, and was the only science in the islands which could fairly claim rank with the intellectual work of Europe and Asia. Genealogy swallowed up history and made law a field of its own. Chiefs might wander off to far distant islands and be lost for generations, but if their descendant came back, and if he could prove his right to the seat in a family Marae, he was admitted to all the privileges and property which belonged to him by inheritance. On the other hand, if he failed in his proof, and turned out to be an impostor, he was put to death without mercy. Relationships were asserted and contested with the seriousness of legal titles, and were often matters of life and death. Every family kept its genealogy secret to protect itself from impostors, and every member of the family united to keep it pure. The most powerful chiefess in the island, like Purea or Marama or Tetuanui reiaiterai, was as free from her husband's control as any independent princess of Europe; she had

Indigenous Histories