TRADITIONARY BALLADS. 203 
questioned by the orators or chroniclers of the 
party opposed to that by whom the recital had 
been made. The disputes which followed, were 
often carried on with great pertinacity and deter¬ 
mination. As they had no records to which they 
could at such times refer, they could only oppose 
one oral tradition to another, which unavoidably 
involved the parties in protracted, and often 
obstinate debates. At such times, a reference to 
some distich, in any of their popular and historic 
songs, often set the matter in dispute at rest. On 
a recent occasion, two parties were disputing in 
reference to an event which occurred in the bay 
of Papara during the time Captain Bligh remained 
there in the Bounty, in 1788 or 1789. The fact 
questioned was the loss of the buoy of his anchor : 
after disputing it for some time without convincing 
his opponent, the individual who had stated the 
fact, referred to the following lines in one of their 
ballads, relating that event : 
u O mea eid e Tareu eid 
Eid te poito a 
Such an one a thief, and Tareu a thief, 
Thieved (or stole) the buoy of Bligh. 
The song was one well known, and the exist¬ 
ence of this fact, among the others that had 
taken place, and the remembrance of which the 
ballad was designed to preserve, was conclusive, 
and appeared to satisfy the parties by whom it 
had been questioned. Most of their historical 
events were thus preserved. These songs were 
exceedingly popular for a time. The facts on 
which they were grounded became thus generally 
known ; and they were, undoubtedly, one of the 
most effectual means they had of preserving 
