TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 145 



If any ordinary native of Maugaia were asked about these relics of humanity, he 

 would merely say, they were " taito, taito rava " (" old, very old "), and this would 

 probably delude the European inquirer into the belief that they were of remote 

 antiquity. 



The tradition of the " wise men " in relation to the matter is, that the sacerdotal 

 clan of Mautara, about the year 1718 a.d., surprised and destroyed Ruanae's can- 

 nibal tribe at Pukuotoi, a spot about a mile from the grotto. This event has been 

 celebrated in song by the chief Potiki in his ' Lament for Vaiaa,' beginning thus : — 



r The clan of Buanae has perished, 



Solo \ As the reef covered with dead fish 



[ Is the ground where they fought. 



The entire victorious f Let their carcases rot there ! 

 clan in chorus ...\ Let their carcases rot there ! 



The bodies of some of the most distinguished were conveyed by their friends to 

 the neighbouring caves and piled up there on wooden platforms. As the wood 

 decayed, the bones were scattered over the damp floor. 



The author procured some human bones of a more remote date, but in a much better 

 state of preservation, a circumstance owing to the dryness of the cave in which 

 they were found. These relics are stated by the " wise men " to be the remains 

 of invaders from Tubuai, who effected a landing, and at first overran the island in 

 tlie reign of Anne, but were eventually deceived cind destroyed by the aborigines 

 of Mangaia. Anne was the fourth sovereign chief of the little island; the battle 

 which sealed the fate of the invaders was the fourth ever fought on Mangaia. At 

 first sight the bones chipped out of the rock seem to be of much higher antiquity 

 than the relics of the invaders from Tubuai ; yet this is not the case. 



The author concludes that the Hervey islands have been peopled in compa- 

 ratively recent times; and so, too, of the Eastern Pacific islands. Tahiti and 

 the neighbouring islands were all peopled some generations previous to the 

 Hervey islands, the first island colonized in that neighbourhood being Raiatea, 

 the centre of a widely extended and most sanguinary worship. Those islanders 

 speak of their ancestors as having come up from the "po " = " darkness," or from 

 " Hawaii " = " Savaii." By "coming up out of darkness," no doubt the lands 

 where the sun sets are intended ; and " Hawaii " is Savaii, the largest island in 

 the Samoau group. Of course "Hawaii " naturally reminds one of the great island 

 in the Sandwich group ; but the traditions of the Eastern islands all point west- 

 ward, not northward. 



A close study of the question for several years past induces the .author to believe 

 that the Hervey group was colonized about five or six centuries ago. The grounds 

 of his belief are : — 



1. The fact that when in 1823 Rarotonga was discovered the twenty-fourth 

 " Makea " * was reigning. Allowing to each " Makea " a reign of twenty-five 

 years, we have a total of 600 years. Another chief on Rarotonga, named " Tino- 

 mana," was in 1823 the nineteenth in direct descent fi'om " Makea Karika," who 

 came from Samoa. Allowing, as in the former instance, twenty-five years to each 

 chief of this tribe, we obtain a total of 475 years. 



2. The " wise men " of Atiu confessed to the writer that the ancestors of the 

 present chiefs sprang from the regal IMakea family of Rarotonga. 



3. The well-known succession of priests of the three principal gods of Mangaia 

 supplies us witli nine very long lives. Allowing each priest to discharge his 

 functions during the long (probably too long) period of fifty years, we get a result 

 of only 4o0 years. The Mangaians themselves trace their origin to Anaiki, or 

 " netherworld." Now " Avaiki," " Hawaii," and " Savaii " are but slightly different 

 forms of one icorcl. In their songs and myths are many references to " the hosts 

 of Ukupolu," undoubtedly the " Upolu" of Samoa. The other islands of that group 

 are all mentioned in ancient Mangaian song. 



But whence did the Samoans spring ? Many words in their dialect are identical 

 with that spoken on the south-eastern peninsula of New Guinea. Of the Asiatic 

 * "Makea" is a regal title, like "Pharaoh" and " Candaoe" of Scripture. 



