Papara was never my mother’s favorite residence, and Papeete still less so. At that time Papeete had hardly grown to be even the European town it has since become. Papara was at least native, even though it was clannish and jealous of power; but Papeete was not even a chief’s residence, for the Otoo or Pomare family lived on the point of Outuaiai, three or four miles from Papeete to the eastward, in Arue, and their Marae of Tarahoe was also in Arue. No native tradition or dignity was associated with Papeete, which grew into consequence only on account of its harbour; and, as a resort of foreign ships and seamen, was never held in favor by respectable chiefs, whose current of life flowed in native channels, as far from foreign Papeete as possible. Marama always preferred her own island to Tahiti, and there she lived by preference. In almost every portion of Moorea she was at home. In Haapiti, starting-point of the Maramas, she bore the name of Tupua i ura o te rai. In Maatea she was Teriimana i Ahurai; in Afareaitu she was Tepau arii i Umarea; in Teavaro she was Marama; in Moruu she was Aromaiterai; in Vaiere she was Tutapu; in Varari she was Narii i te rauaru. In all these places she was mistress in her own right and over Haapiti as a whole she was chiefess in her own right, and a much more important person than her husband, who was overshadowed by Tati’s great authority. I think the women of our family have inherited this preference for the Moorea, and have felt themselves more at home there than elsewhere.

I was the eldest child of Tapua taaroa and Marama, born probably in 1824, at Vaiari. From my father I received the name

Indigenous Histories