Another event had helped to diminish the dignity of Tu in the eyes of foreigners:

"I was surprised to find that instead of Otoo, the name by which he formerly went, he was now called Tinah. The name of Otoo, with the title of Earee rahie [Arii rahi], I was informed, had devolved to his eldest son, who was yet a minor, as is the custom of the country. I prepared a magnificent present for this youth, who was represented to me as the person of the greatest consequence or, rather, of the highest rank in the island."

Bligh was allowed to see the young Tu only across a river. The child appeared to be about six years old. He was therefore born about 1782, and this is our first glimpse of our first Christian king.

Old Tu, or Tinah, was very anxious that Bligh should redeem Cook’s pledge and punish the Eimeo people, but succeeded only in persuading him at least not to encourage them by a friendly visit. Bligh seemed neither to see nor to act, except in the directions that Tu wished. He would not actually engage in war, but he showed not the slightest interest or curiosity in any one but the Tus, father and son, and their immediate connexion. Tu’s half-brother, Ariipaia, son of old Teu by a second wife (see Table VII), attracted Bligh’s attention chiefly because he was said to be Tu’s enemy. Teppaho, or Tepau, the chief of Ahurai, received notice because he was Tu’s friend. Further than this Bligh neither looked nor asked. He seems neither to have known nor cared who were the chiefs of Eimeo, Paea, or Hitiaa, who had destroyed Tu’s power and seized his property. He scarcely mentioned the remoter

Indigenous Histories