HISTORY OF THE ISLAND

History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life, the messenger of antiquity.

CICERO.

It was my privilege during my brief stay in Tahiti to meet Tati Salmon, chief of the Papara district. He is a direct descendant of one of the two noble families of the island, the Tevas, and one of the most prominent and influential citizens of the island. I asked him to what race the Tahitians belonged. To this question he had a ready reply. He said: "We belong to no race; man was created here; this is the lost Garden of Eden." There is much force, if not truth, in this assertion when we take into consideration the charming beauty of the island and the bounteous provisions which Nature has made here for the existence of man. Then, too, the Tahitian is a good specimen of manhood, intellectually and physically, far superior to the Negro race and the Mongolian. Ariitaimai (Arii Taimai E), the mother of the chief just referred to and the authoress of the book mentioned in the preface, believes that the Tahitians belong to the great Aryan race, the race of Arii, and that their chiefs were Arii, not kings, and the head chiefs, Ariirahi-Great Chiefs. It was only the latter who were entitled to wear the girdle of red feathers, as much the symbol of their preeminence as the crown and sceptre of European royalty. The Tahitians are Polynesians, like the inhabitants of most of the South Seas and of Hawaii, and there can be but little doubt that the Polynesians belong to the Malay race, having migrated from island to island, from west to east, by way of Java, Samoa and the Hawaiian Islands. As these voyages had to be made by means of frail canoes, we can readily conceive the hardships endured by the bold navigators of centuries ago. A story current in Tahiti relates that it was thus that the great chief Olopaua of Hawaii, driven from home by disastrous floods, bore his wife Lu'ukia in the twelfth century, to find a new dwelling place in Tahiti, twenty-three hundred miles away. It is said that the chiefess was a poetess, a dancer famed for grace, and the inventor of a style of dress which is still made by the Hawaiians. Many of the primitive peoples trace their origin to a legend which is handed down from generation to generation.

In all ages of the world there is nothing with which mankind hath been so much delighted as with those little fictitious stories which go under the name of fables or apologues among the ancient heathens, and of parables in the sacred writings.

BISHOP PORTEUS.

The Tevas of Tahiti have their legend and it is related by Ariitaimai, as it has been told for many generations. They take pride in the story that they are the direct descendants from the Shark God. The legend tells how many centuries ago a chief of Punaauia, by the name of Te manutu-ruu, married a chiefess of Vaiari, named Hototu, and had a son, Terii te moanarau. At the birth of the child, the father set out in his canoe for the Paumotu Islands to obtain red feathers (Ura) to make the royal belt for the young prince. The legend begins by assuming that Vaiari was the oldest family, with its Maraes, and that Punaauia was later in seniority and rank. While Te manutu-ruu was absent on his long voyage to the Paumotus, a visitor appeared at Vaiari, and was entertained by the chiefess. This visitor was the first ancestor of the Tevas. He was only half human, the other half fish, or Shark God; and he swam from the ocean, through the reef, into the Vaihiria River, where he came ashore, and introduced himself as Vari mataauhoe, and, after having partaken of the hospitalities of the chiefess, took up his residence with her. But after their intimacy had lasted some time, one day, when they were together, Hototu's dog came into the house and showed his affection for his mistress by licking her face, or, as we should say now, kissed her, although in those days this mark of affection was unknown, as the Polynesians instead only touched noses as an affectionate greeting. At this the man-shark was so displeased that he abandoned the chiefess. He walked into the river, turned fish again and swam out to sea. On his way he met the canoe of the Chief Te manutu-ruu returning from the Paumotus, and stopped to speak to him. The chief invited Vari mataauhoe to return with him, but the man-shark declined, giving as his reason that the chiefess was too fond of dogs.

AVENUE OF PURRANUIA, PAPEETE

The legend proves that the natives regarded Vaiari as the source of their aristocracy. Papara makes the same claim, for when Vari mataauhoe left Hototu he said to her: "You will bear me a child; if a girl, she will belong to you and take your name; but if a boy, you are to call him Teva; rain and wind will accompany his birth, and to whatever spot he goes, rain and wind will always foretell his coming. He is of the race of Ariirahi, and you are to build him a Marae which you are to call Matava (the two eyes of Tahiti), and there he is to wear the Marotea, and he must be known as the child of Ahurei (the wind that blows from Taiarapu)." A boy was born, and, as foretold, in rain and wind. The name of Teva was given to him; and Matoa was built; and there Teva ruled. From this boy came the name Teva; but when and how it was applied to the clan no one knows. The members of the tribe or clan believe it must have been given by the Arii of Papara or Vaiari. To this day, the Tevas seldom travel without rain and wind, so that they use the word Teva rarivari-Teva wet always and everywhere. The Vaiari people still point out the place where the first ancestor of the clan lived as a child, his first bathing place, and the different waters in which he fished as he came on his way toward Papara. This legend is to-day as fresh in the district of Papara as it was centuries ago. It is but natural that the Tevas, one of the two most influential and powerful of the tribes of Tahiti, should be anxious to trace their ancestry to a royal origin even if the first ancestor should be a man-shark, little remembering that

It is not wealth nor ancestry, but honorable conduct and a noble disposition that make men great.

OVIDIUS.

As the Tahitians had no written language before the missionaries visited the island, little is known of its earlier history. The history of the island since its discovery has been accurately written up by Ariitaimai, an eye-witness of many of the most stirring events and on that account most to be relied upon, for

The only good histories are those that have been written by the persons themselves who commanded in the affairs whereof they write.

MONTAIGNE.

Let us follow her account of the history of the island since its discovery by Captain Samuel Wallis, June 18, 1767. The captain made a voyage around the world in Her Majesty's ship Dolphin, and on his way found the island, and called it Otaheite. At that time, Amo was head chief of Papara and of the Tevas, or rather his son Teriirere, born about 1762, was head chief, and Amo exercised power as his guardian, according to native custom, which made the eldest child immediately on birth, the head of the family. At that time the power of calling the Tevas to conference or war was peculiar to the Papara head chief; the military strength of the Tevas was unconquerable, if it could be united; but perhaps the most decisive part of every head chief's influence was his family connection. Nowhere in the world was marriage a matter of more political and social consequence than in Tahiti. Women occupied an important position in society and political affairs. The chiefesses held the reins of government with as much firmness as the chiefs, and commanded the same influence and respect. She was as independent of her husband as of any other chief; she had her seat or throne, in the Marae even to the exclusion of her husband; and if she were ambitious she might win or lose crowns for her children as happened with Captain Wallis' friend Oberea, the great-aunt of Ariitaimai Purea, and with her niece, Tetuauni reiaiteatea, the mother of the first King Pomare. At the time of Wallis' and Cook's visits, Papara was the principal city in Tahiti, and Papeete, the present capital city of the French possessions in Oceanica, a mere village. The Papara head chief was never the head chief of the whole island, but his power and influence were predominant throughout the whole island. The kingship which Europeans insisted on conferring on him, or on any other head chief who happened for the time to rival him, was never accepted by the natives until forced upon them by foreign influence and arms. From this it will be seen that before European influence made itself felt, the Tahitians were divided into tribes ruled by so many chiefs, with a head chief whose influence extended over the entire island. The form of native government was very simple and had many very commendable features. Wars between the tribes and between Tahiti and the neighboring island, Moorea, were, however, of frequent occurrence.

NATIVE VILLAGE BY THE SEA

All exact knowledge concerning dates in the history of the island begins with June 24, 1767, when Wallis warped his ship into the bay of Matavai, the most northerly point of the island. The appearance of the foreigners, the first time the natives had ever seen a white man and such a great ship, created consternation. Excitement ran high on the landing of the crew. The natives attacked them, but their rude implements of warfare could not cope with firearms, and they were defeated. Two days later, June 26th, the battle was renewed and again terminated in the defeat of the natives,...