Of this danger the missionaries had been warned before they had even landed. Old Manne Manne, as they called him, the high priest of Raiatea and Maraetaata, had tried to persuade them not to make common cause with Pomare, and brought the two Swedes to convince them that "Pomare never acted honorably by the English or any other after he had done with their services"; but the missionaries decided to follow the beaten path, assuming that Pomare and Tu were united in interest and could be courted and conciliated together. With this idea fixed in their minds, they landed at Matavai and put themselves in the hands of Pomare and his son.

The Duff sailed for England August 4, 1797, leaving the missionaries to be plundered or murdered by the rival factions, and they soon found that Pomare and Tu were far from being united. If they chose one, they must lose the other. Pomare chose as a brother, -- Towwa, as they spelt it, or hoa, or taeae, -- one of the missionaries, named Cover. Temarii chose another, named Main. These two missionaries went to Papara August 15, at Manne Manne’s suggestion, to remonstrate against a human sacrifice which was to be made at the Marae of Tooarai. They fell into a most alarming danger, for they found Pomare, Tu and Terii navahoroa of Taiarapu, Pomare’s two sons, with Temarii, and a swarm of people, greatly excited because, the night before, some of the Papara men had killed a man from Taiarapu. The two missionaries escaped as quickly as possible; but when, in the following February, Pomare, Tu, Temarii, Manne-manne, and their

Indigenous Histories