Chapter XIV
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gence is one of Teohu’s party, and had mingled herself with Pomere’s whence she gained her information. That Pomere will kill him if he can, there is perhaps but little reason to doubt, and Teohu is himself apprehensive of it, and much afraid, though Pomere carries himself with a great deal of apparent kindness towards him, and has even gone so far as to make him a present of a musket."
The chiefess of Papeari and the chief of Hitiaa were personages of great dignity, but the chief of Papara held more real power than them all, including Pomare and Tu. In order to establish his superior power, Tu could not avoid the necessity of destroying the Papara family, and putting one of the Pare Arue family in the chiefery of Papara. Accordingly, after the death of Temarii Ariifaataia, no chief of Papara was ever seen at Matavai. The missionaries, who mentioned every one else, never mentioned his name, or seemed aware that Temarii had a successor. They knew that Papara and Paea were in chronic revolt against Tu, but they did not care to know who led the revolt. They were satisfied to give Tu muskets and gunpowder to conquer Papara and destroy its chiefs without their knowing their own victim.
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the revised Paris edition of 1901 page 147, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-marua-147.html