Chapter XIII
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Ariipaea, Tu’s half brother, who, as guardian of Papara, sold his rights to Tu, died in 1796 or 1797. His widow, Teriitua, Aromaiterai’s daughter, then chiefess of Hitiaa, was commonly known by the English as Inna Madua (Vahine metua), and continued for several years more to make a considerable figure in the family of Pomare. Apparently the Temarii Ariifaataia inherited the name of his guardian and relative, for the missionaries used indifferently the term Temarii or Ariipaea (Orepiah) in speaking of our Papara chief, whom we know in tradition only as Ariifaataia.
Ariifaataia, if the wish of his family had availed, should have married the chiefess of Vaiari, the Maheanuu i Farepua, who was not only socially the first of all Tahiti chiefs, and whose Maraes of Farepua and Tahiti were the oldest on the island, but who was also at that time the acknowledged beauty of Tahiti, whose fame remains a by word to this day. Maheanuu refused to marry Ariifaataia, brilliant as the match was, even for her. She thought him too ugly. Handsome women were then becoming more rare in the island, if Vancouver is to be believed; and Maheanuu was not disposed to throw her beauty away merely for power; yet the marriage was for a time supposed to
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© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 121, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-121.html