382 MYSTIC ISLES 



"Because of those ears," said Tiura, "all the eels in 

 this lake have very large ears, and it is so because the 

 father of all the Mataiea folk was an eel. We shall see 

 the eels to-morrow, but I must tell you of the chief of 

 the district of Arue, near Papeete, about which 

 M. Tourjee, the American, wrote the himene. The 

 chief was married to a strong woman of this district, 

 and in those days there were so many Tahitians that the 

 mountains as well as the valleys were filled with them. 

 He had a pet puhi, an eel named Faaraianuu. The eel 

 had his home in a spring in the Arue district. The 

 sjDring is there to this day." 



''Oia ia! It is true!" I interjected. "I have seen it." 

 "One day," went on Tiura, "the chief remarked to his 

 vahine that he was starting up the mountain to see her 

 grandparents. She wanted to go, too, but he said that 

 he would just hurry along, and be back in a day or two. 

 Against her v^ill he went alone. He did come back in 

 a day or two, and to her questions replied that he had 

 had a delightful visit to her tupima. After that he got 

 the 2^^u, the habit, of departing for the mountains and 

 remaining for hours daily. The chief's vahine became 

 anoenoe (curious) to see what was his real reason for 

 making these journeys every day. So she followed him 

 secretly. She came to the mountain, where she saw him 

 stop by an umu, a native oven he had evidently built 

 before. He took out a bamboo, the kind in which we 

 cooked small pieces of meat, and she saw him draw out 

 a piece of meat and heard him say 'Maitai! Good!' as 

 he ate it. She watched him closely, and was anxious to 

 know what meat he had cooked, for he had said nothing 

 about it. 



