Marama had little to do with her daughter. Mothers were not much consulted in regard to their eldest child, or indeed in regard to any child, if the family claimed it. Children in this communistic society were as much the objects of exchange or gift, as any other article of property, and were begged quite as commonly. Although I was born at Vaiari, the Papara people at once claimed me, and built for me a special house, the fareoa, usually built for the children of Arii, and sacred even to the parents. They placed it on a small point where two branches of a stream join to empty into the sea, a stone’s throw from Tati’s house. The fareoa was peculiar in having but one roof-post, and in being sacred. The attendants were also sacred; the child was fed by servants who were sacred, and who had charge of her to the exclusion of the mother.

This arrangement was broken up by Terito, Pomare’s widow, who carried out the idea of her husband by claiming me, and by coming to Papara to take me away; which she actually did, and carried me to Papaoa, the Pomares’ residence in Arue. Terito’s own daughter Aimata was ten or twelve years older than I, born probably in 1812 or 1813, but the two girls were brought up together, under the care of Uata, a man who for a number of years exercised the powers of government, such as they were; and always had the respect and confidence of natives and foreigners. The story of

Indigenous Histories