360 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
tion of these appalling deeds: this was, the m* 
dulgence of their depraved and vitiated appetite. 
In the little island of Tapuaemanu, between 
Eimeo and Huahine, tradition states that there 
were formerly cannibals. In the reign of Tamata- 
fetu, an ancestor of the present ruler, it is related, 
that when a man of stout or corpulent habit went 
to the island, or lowland on the reef, he was seldom 
heard of afterwards. The people of the island 
imagined those thus missing were destroyed by the 
sharks: but for many years, the servants of the 
king followed them to the island on the reef, and 
having murdered, baked them there. When the 
bodies were baked, they wrapped them in leaves 
of the hibiscus and plantain, as they were accustomed 
to wrap their eels, or other tish, taken and cooked 
on the island; they then carried them to the in¬ 
terior, where the king and his servants feasted on 
them. Their deeds were at length discovered by 
Feito, the wife of the king. She was in the house 
on one occasion, and, as they supposed, asleep, 
when she overheard the king and his servants 
planning the death of Tebuoroo, her brother. 
Anxious to save her brother’s life, she revealed 16 
him the purpose of the chief. He communicated 
it to the raatiras, or farmers, who immediately re¬ 
paired to the marae of Taaroa, to inquire what they 
should do ; and left with a unanimous determina¬ 
tion to destroy their chief. Two men, Mehoura 
and Raiteanui, were appointed to hide themselves 
near his place of bathing; and when the chief 
came to bathe, they killed him with stones. A 
native of this island related the above statement 
within the last two years, at a public meeting held 
near the place where it is reported to have occurred, 
and afterwards in private stated that it was ac- 
