This feast was the last display of Purea's pride. The contest she had challenged began by a disturbance which broke up the Ahu raa reva -- the donning of the Maro ura -- which was the equivalent of coronation among a people who never wore a crown. The unfortunate Teriirere, for whose sake the feast and the Rahui and the Marae were made, found his cousins uniting to pull him down. The Tevas of Papara have preserved a song made in memory of this tragedy, and almost as lyric and lurid as the tragedy itself; but so genuine a piece of native literature that I have done my best to write it down correctly, and get explanations of its obscure allusions.
The words, with their literal translation, run thus:
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Ahu raa reva i Tooarai Patiri ite pae ote rai Tu'ua tetapii ite avatea Haati ite reva ate arii Te arii ite rai tauatini Hapuni ite reva ate arii Te arii ite rai tauamano E faatia raa reva tei Matahihae Ite aro o Vehiatua Na taata i ofati ite reva ate arii O Teieie raua o Tetumanua Ahiri toe hara i hope i reira I ati te Oropaa Na hia faifai roa te pohe ote fenua Na hara ,oe ete Purahi Ite reva ura ate arii Tei fati hia e Taiarapu A pohe ai tatou e |
The feast of flags was held at Tooarai (The drums) like crash of thunder along the sky (The splendor) like the rays of noonday sun Surrounded the standard of the arii The arii of countless skies Enveloped the standard of the arii The arii of a thousand skies. A feast was also held at Matahihae In the presence of Vehiatua The two men who broke up the feast of the arii Were Teieie and Tetumanua Had the sin ceased there It brought misery to the Oropaa And the whole land was laid prostrate Oh, thou hast sinned, Purahi, Against the reva ura of thine Arii That was broken up by Taiarapu Which brought on our ruin. |
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E tatari oe ite nuu nui ite patu ofai Ite marae i Mahaiatea Pohuatea tei Punaauia Tepauarii tei Ahurai Teriimaroura tei Tarahoi Te fenua i hara atu ai te maau e Eimeo ite raravaru Te fenua i tai hia e Mahine Na oti ite pure, tootoo ia ite iho na O Puni i Farerua, o Raa i Tupai E tahua o Teae afano i Tahiti E oroa tei Tahiti Ahu raa reva na Teriirere i Tooarai Tatou e no ho ai e Na hara oe ete Purahi Ite reva ura ate arii Tei fati hia e Taiarapu A pohe ai tatou e |
Assembles the great host at the cairn At the marae of Mahaietea. Pohuatea at Punaauia. Tepauarii at Ahurai. Terii maro ura at Tarahoi The land where the idiot was punished. Eimeo, the eight branched, The land dear to Mahine. The prayers were said, the call was given To Puni of Farerua, to Raa of Tupai The high priest Teae is gone to Tahiti There is a feast at Tahiti The Ahuraareva for Teriirere of Tooarai To whom we all bow down. Oh, thou hast sinned, Purahi, Against the reva ura of thine Arii That was broken up by Taiarapu Which brought on our ruin. |
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Faaara viriaro tei Pafaarava E rima tahivai e rima tahivai Eha ei roto e ha ei rapae Ahiri ite tao a Amo e E te Oropaa e E hopoipoi tia tatou Ite aro na tai ote vaa Nauta tatou hoe ona a ino Tei mua ite Malataupe E aau paapaa tei Vaitoata E pau tatou ite pau o Pairituaipo Ite rahi tauraa Temahuru nia nei Pahupua ma nei Hia orero tina Papara Na hia te moua Ite vaa nui o Hui ma Taiarapu Hoe noa tia ei te pae tahatai Tau mate o no iaia e Na hara oe ete Purahi Ite reva ura ate arii Tei fati hia e Taiarapu A pohe ai tatou e |
The scouts at Pafaarava are wakened One hand is stretched out, and then another. The four (districts) within, and the four without Ah, had the advice of Amo been followed By you of the Oropaa To lead us all The van of the army by canoes on the sea By the mountain-road we had one evil Ahead of us at the Matataupe The dry reef of Vaitoata There we might have died the death of Pairituaipo At the meeting-ground of Temahuru And of Pahupua. Papara is laid prostrate The Mount (the Arii) is laid low By the great army of Hui and Taiarapu Only one now stands on the shore, the Marae, Thou the cause of our downfall. Oh, thou hast sinned,Purahi, Against the reva ura of thine Arii That was broken up by Taiarapu Which brought on our ruin. |
From this song we can make out that Purahi was the woman who caused the disaster at last. Purahi was an Aromaiterai; the daughter of the Aromaiterai who married Amo's sister Tetuaunurau somewhere about 1750 (See Table I). She was therefore first cousin of the young Teriirere, and belonged to the elder branch of the family, while Teriirere was a Tuiterai, and by his mother, Purea, not a Teva at all. According to island law, I suppose Purahi had a perfect right to take the power from Teriirere if she could.
Purahi was supported by Vehiatua; and the army that devastated Papara came from Taiarapu and Hui. It was led by the great warriors, Teieie and Tetumanua, who were, and are still, so famous that even today you may hear the Taiarapu sing of them. Teieie was a cousin of Vehiatua, and is our ancestor, which is not the case with Amo. My father Tati was, as Table II shows, the son of Teuraiterai and Telau of Ravea. Tetau was a granddaughter of Teieie.
Only the other day I heard the Tautira people again sing the last verses of the song which told how Vehiatua remonstrated with Teieie for troubling his authority. The first part is forgotten. The verses I heard were these:
Teieie, e eiaha ei faainoino ite hau
Teieie, why, oh! why will you make trouble with the government!
Tena ta oe ite ra e hiti
You have the sun-rise (the Pari)
I Tirimiro i Manuataha.
The Tirimiro and Manuataha (sub-districts).
Te mata toana te mata toaneiNeedless to say that Murihau was another village beauty, like the Maraeura of Tauraatua, whose rank was too low for marriage with an Arii.
You have eyes, eyes have I!
Te huru toa nei te huru toa nei
You are a warrior, warrior am I!
Haapiti te matai e nauta mai i Tahuarera
Haapite the wind that blows over Tahuarera
Ite rua o matai taua Fatutira ite tai paaina
Brings me the sound of the surf of Fatutira.
O Murihau a nae ra o tau e tai.
Murihau is all I ask and cry for.
Teieie and Tetumanua were called the Ohiteitei -- the two serpents. In honor of them all Taiarapu was called Upoeeha. These two great warriors broke up the Feast of Tooarai, and laid low the Moua, the Arii Teriirere, "in whose presence we all go on our knees".
The various great chiefs who were summoned to the Feast show the extent of Teriirere's influence. Besides Pohuatea at Punaauia, Tepau at Ahurai, and Terii maro ura at Tarahoi, the island of Eimeo was summoned and Puni of Farerua in Borabora, and Raa of Tupai and Maupiti, two islands dependent on Borabora; and finally Teae of Baiatea. A curious bit of old history and manners is preserved in the two lines:
Terii maroura tei Tarahoi MaraianaunauIdiots were objects of respect in most of the ancient societies, and it seems that a certain Teva idiot must have been an object of great interest, for when he was killed, in the district of Pare, for some offence such as implied that he was considered sane and responsible, the Tevas took up arms and revenged his death by ravaging Pare, and retained the event as a sort of epithet in song against the Porionuu and the Arii of Raianaunau.
Te fenua i hara atu ai te maau e.
The Papara people who made the song seem to have been angry because Amo's advice was not followed in the manner of meeting the invasion. If Captain Cook understood them rightly, they laid their disaster on their neighbor, the Arii of Paea, or Attahuru. Certain it is that, when the blow came, Purea, Amo and Teriirere made their escape across the mountains to Haapape, whose chief was a cousin or uncle of Amo. Purea did not take refuge with her own family. But possibly other reasons controlled their movements, for the song says that the whole Oropaa suffered; and Purea's family district of Ahurai may not have escaped, for Ahurai is but a narrow strip of coast, seven kilometers in length, lying directly next to the Oropaa.
On all these intricate points of island politics, Captain Cook was suddenly thrown, with the effect of confusing and irritating him and all the chiefs he had to deal with. He never quite succeeded in understanding their position or his own. His story is the liveliest picture of our misfortunes.
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Tahiti - Marau Taaroa & Henry Adams
