BO 



rOKTER^S JOURNAL, 



His offence, it appears, was the frequently waylaying the 

 children of the poorer class, on their return from fishing, 

 and taking from them their fish : they therefore rose in a 

 body, and drove him from the valley. He took refuge 

 with Gattanewa, where he now lives. He is the largest 

 man on the island, and his enormous size and unwieldy 

 appearance soon gained him among us the name of Ele- 

 phant, 



The fact is, that these people cannot be said to live un- 

 der any form of government, except a patriarchal one. 

 The oldest man of the tribe, if he possess the most land, 

 and is the owner of the most bread-fruit and cocoa-nut 

 trees, is the most influential character among them. 

 Wealth, with them, as in all other countries, attaches 

 respect and gives power; they have such thing as rank 

 among them ; a rank which is hereditary ; and they take 

 much pride in tracing their ancestry. Gattanewa traces 

 his for eighty-eight generations back, (about fourteen 

 hundred years) which reaches to the period when the 

 island was first peopled. According to tradition, Oataia^ 

 or day-light, and Ananoona his wife, came from Vavao, an 

 island underneath Nooaheevah, and brought with them 

 bread-fruit and sugar-cane, and a great variety of other 

 plants. They had forty children, who were all named 

 after the plants they brought with them, with the excep- 

 tion of the first son, who was called Po or night. They 

 settled in' the valley of Tieuhoy : but soon becoming very 

 populous, they went off to other parts of the island, 

 taking with them plants of different kinds, and inhabited 

 the valleys. Be this tradition true or fabulous, it is cer- 

 tain that Gattanewa draws his greatest consideration front 

 inheriting the honours of the great Oataia, and an alliance 

 with him is sought by every family of any considerable 

 rank in the island. 



The chiefs, and the sons and grandsons of every chief 

 in the island, are married to his sisters, his daughters, or 

 his granddaughters. Many of the latter were now un- 

 married, and their youth and beauty soon drew the atten- 

 tion of our officers ; and as they did not suffer them to 

 despond, many of them soon had the honour of boasting 

 a relationship with the great chieftain. 



