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Thus, when the Papara family, under the control of Purea, committed the follies which ended in the grand disaster of December, 1768, the Pare Arue family was able to profit by what ruined us. Old Teu, or Hapai, seems to have been a shrewd and cautious man, but we know little about him before Cook arrived. He never assumed to be a great chief or to wear the Maro-ura, and is more likely to have been jealous of his son than of Amo or Teriirere. This son, Tu, must have been born about 1743. From his mother he had a claim to the Maro-ura of Raiatea; through his ancestress Tetuaehuri he belonged to the family of Vehiatua and the Tevaitai districts of Taiarapu; from his father he inherited the chiefery of Pare Arue, and to complete the circle of ambition, he was given a wife -- Tetuanui-rea-i-te-rai -- of the adjoining, independent, chiefery of Tefana i Ahurai, who was not only niece of Purea, but was quite as ambitious and energetic as Purea herself.
I have already told the story of Purea’s downfall, as it was told to Cook. According to that account, the chief who accomplished the overthrow of Papara was Tutaha of Paea, and, in fact, whenever Papara has been worsted it has generally been found that Paea helped to turn the scale. Tutaha seems to have taken the lion’s share in the division of spoils. Tu got little or nothing except the recognition of his right to wear the Maro-ura at Maraetaata. Further than this his supremacy did not go. Outside his own personal territory he was still a stranger. Although he was recognized by his family and by Tutaha of Paea as
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 88, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-088.html