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PORTER’S JOURNAL, 
largest man on the island, and his enormous size and unwieldy ap¬ 
pearance soon gained him among us the name of Elefihant. 
The fact is that these people cannot be said to live under any 
form of goverment, except it be under a patriarchal one. The 
oldest man of the tribe, if he possess the most land, and is the 
owner of most bread-fruit and cocoa-nut trees, is the most influen¬ 
tial 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 is to the period w hen the island was first peopled. Accord- 
ing 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 exception 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 inhabi¬ 
ted the valleys. Be this tradition true or fabulous, it is certain 
that Gattanewa draws his greatest consideration from 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 grand-daugh¬ 
ters; many of the latter were now unmarried, and their youth and 
beauty soon drew the attention 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. 
The people called collectively Happahs, reside in a valley 
which makes up from the N.W. part of Comptroller’s Bay. They 
consist of six tribes; namely, Nicekees, Tattievows, Pachas, Kic- 
kahs, Tekaahs, and Muttaaohas; the names of the chiefs of which 
are, Mowattaeh, Peiowho, Tekawanuohe, Kawatuah, and Toneotu- 
fah. This is the people which now daily dared us to battle. 
In a bay to leward, called Huchaheucha, there are three tribes, 
called Maamatuahs, Tiohahs, and Cahhaahe; their chiefs are na- 
ined Potunah and Mahitatahee. Those are the allies of the 
