.

The first person who undertook to break the Rahui was probably Purea’s sister-in-law, no doubt the wife or widow of Teihotu, on behalf of her son, Terii vaetua. She set out from Faaa in her double-canoe, with the house or tent, called fare-oa, in the prow, which only head-chiefs could use; and a crew of fifty men or more paddled this barge of state, with all the show of a royal ceremony, along the coast to Papara, some twenty miles away, until, opposite to the Point of Mahaiatea, they turned in to an opening in the reef which had on some pretext become sacred, and was known as the sacred pass, through which only sacred chiefs might go. Purea was then living on the Point, and probably was superintending the work on her great Marae. She came out on the beach, and as the double canoe, with its royal tent, passed through the opening and drew towards the land she hailed it:

"Who dares venture through the sacred pass? Know they not that the Tevas are under the sacred Rahui for Teriirere i Tooarai? Not even the cocks may crow or the ocean storm."

"It is Terii vaetua, Arii of Ahurai"

"How many more royal heads can there be? I know none but Teriirere i Tooarai. Down with your tent!"

The Ahurai chiefess wept and cut her head with the shark’s tooth till blood flowed down her face, which was the custom of women in sign of great emotion, and meant in this instance revenge as well as grief; but Purea was inexorable, and Terii vaetua was obliged to turn round and go home like any ordinary stranger.

The quarrel, once begun, was extended by another of the Ahurai family, a woman who proved to be more than Purea’s equal in most forms of energy. She was Purea’s niece, the daughter of Teihotu and sister of the insulted Terii vaetua. Her name was Tetuanui rea i te

Indigenous Histories