Every Englishman in those days took comfort, when wandering over the world, in the faith that kings and queens were a part of the divine system, and that no intelligent race could hold up its head without them. A king or a queen the English must have at Tahiti, and they had already settled that Oberea was a queen. What, then, was Tutaha? On going eastward into the district of Papenoo they were told by the natives that all the hogs and poultry belonged to Tutaha and could not be sold without his permission. "We now began to think that this man was indeed a great prince, for an influence so extensive and absolute could be acquired by no other. And we afterwards found that he administered the government of this part of the island, as sovereign, for a minor whom we never saw all the time that we were upon it." Yet they were again perplexed by the sudden appearance of another man, who was treated by the natives with royal honors, within the very district of Haapape where Tutaha seemed to rule.

Cook’s Journal, on June 21, contained the following entry:

"This morning a chief whose name is Oamo, and one we had not seen before came to the Fort. There came with him a Boy about seven Years of Age and a Young Woman of about eighteen or twenty. At the Time of their coming, Obariea and several others were in the fort. They went out to meet them, having first uncovered their Heads and Bodies as low as their Waists; and the same thing was done by all those that were on the outside of the Fort. As we looked upon this as a ceremonial respect, and had not seen it paid to anyone before,

Indigenous Histories