The Ngariki Tribe

The myths and traditional narratives of Mangaia are confusing because of the short genealogical lines covering the settlement period, the emergence of the first human settlers from an underworld without canoe transport, and the immediate divine origin of the Ngariki chiefs as the sons of the god Rongo. The traditional statement that Rangi, the Ngariki chief, was a contemporary page 29

Table 4.—Genealogy of the Akatauira Tribe

page 30 of Tangiia, who settled in Rarotonga in 1250, cannot be accepted as correct. A solution to the Mangaian departures from orthodox Polynesian traditional lore is to be sought in the true origin of the Ngariki settlers.

The Ngariki, after landing in Mangaia, were faced with the intellectual problem of accounting for themselves to posterity. It would be absurd to think that any Polynesian group as late as the year 1450 could have forgotten the human genealogies of their leaders, the island whence they came to Mangaia, and a human narrative covering some period of their stay in that land. Yet these features have been concealed by mythical explanations which depart from the orthodox Polynesian technique.

The Mangaian historians stated that the brothers Rangi, Akatauira, and Mokoiro were the sons of Rongo. The divine origin of chiefs is an orthodox Polynesian technique; but between the divine origin and the time of settlement should extend a long period bridged by a pedigree which, for a number of the later generations, is human. The Mangaian version is thus unorthodox.

The only explanation reconcilable with Polynesian psychology is that the human pedigree is not illustrious enough to give initial prestige to a people who were making a new start in life. The new school, therefore, made their leaders the sons of the god Rongo to give them the aristocracy of divine origin and, at the same time, to remove the evidence of what might have been a plebeian ancestry. The new teachers could not have had a high scholastic attainment, or from a wider knowledge they would have lengthened the period between Rongo and their chiefs. With their limited knowledge they took a short cut regardless of or perhaps not realizing the fact that their technique could not withstand criticism in the years to come. The technique of the Mangaian school, however, may not be so crude as it seems at first sight. The method of placing Rongo and his human sons in the spiritual land of Auau in the underworld of Avaiki effectively disposed of the island whence they came. The immediate divine origin also obviated the necessity for recording a previous earthly sojourn that might have been embarrassing to the prestige that every Polynesian colony desires.

The question of the immediate island of origin of the Mangaians must be considered. Gill (6, p. 166), for linguistic reasons, identified the Mangaian Avaiki as Savaii in Samoa and held that the Ngariki came from Savaii to Mangaia. Too much stress has been laid on Savaii because the name is the present appellation of that island. The fact that Hawaii (Avaiki) was the old name of Raiatea in the Society Islands is often overlooked, and many of the historical incidents connected with Avaiki would be more correctly associated with Raiatea than with Savaii. A cultural feature showing affinity between Mangaia and Samoa is the game of pitching discs (tupe). Both page 31areas use the term tupe, the number of discs is five, and the principles of playing and scoring are the same. Minor details differ. The Samoans pitch to the ends of a single long narrow strip of hala matting, and the discs are made of coconut shell. The Mangaians pitch onto two separate small mats of coconut leaf, and the discs are made of wood. So far as I know, the tupe game has been described only for Mangaia in eastern Polynesia. As against this one cultural element, there are several reasons for connecting the Ngariki ancestors more closely with the near-by island of Rarotonga.

First, there are Vatea and Papa with their children Tangaroa, Rongo, Tane, and Tongaiti. This mythological family occurs in Rarotonga and other parts of eastern Polynesia, but not in Samoa. The historical tradition concerning Tangiia and the theological fact that his son Motoro was accepted as the tribal god of the Ngariki directly connect the Ngariki ancestors with Rarotonga. As Rangi and his brothers belonged to a period two centuries later than that of Tangiia, Rangi could not have sent over to Rarotonga to ask Tangiia for his son as a god. The anomaly of Rangi's knowing so much about Rarotonga after his emergence from the underworld is dispersed if it is inferred that the Ngariki settlers came from Rarotonga to Mangaia and brought their god Motoro and the memory of Tangiia with them. The association of the Ngariki with Tangiia is intimate, and a possible explanation is to be found in the Rarotongan traditions concerning Tangiia.

Tangiia was a chief in Tahiti. When he went to settle in Rarotonga, he had a number of groups of people with him. To provide a chief for these groups, Tangiia asked Iro, a contemporary explorer, for his son Tai-te-ariki. Tangiia renamed his adopted son Te-ariki-upoko-tini (The-chiefry-head-of-many). The tini (many or thousands) referred to the groups of people that Tangiia brought from Tahiti. In a manuscript in the possession of Kainuku-ariki of Rarotonga, the group of people is referred to as follows:

E varu tu tangata i runga i te vaka o Tangiia. Teia nga tu tangata. (There were eight kinds of people on the canoe of Tangiia. These were the kinds).

1.	Ko te Kakipoto
2.	Ko te Raetiki
3.	Ko te Ne'epoto
4.	Ko te Ataatapua
5.	Ko te Tatavere
6.	Ko te Vakevake
7.	Ko te Kairira (Kairia)
8.	Ko te Mangaia

In the list of groups (tribes probably), the last is the Mangaia. In a list obtained from another manuscript, the name Manaune replaces Mangaia. The name Manahune was applied in Tahiti to the early Polynesian inhabitants. At a later period, certain families became dominant, secured the government, and established the ruling arii families. Tangiia belonged to an arii family, and it is evident that for the settlement of Rarotonga he supplemented his own family followers and chiefs with recruits from the older page 32inhabitants of Tahiti. In the subsequent development in Rarotonga, the "eight kinds of people" were merged in the population. The positions of chiefs and priests were conferred on the people of rank who accompanied Tangiia, and the offices became hereditary. The Mangaia or Manaune groups had no chance of rising in the social scale. My belief is that after about two centuries of repressed life in Rarotonga, members of these groups migrated to Mangaia under the leadership of Rangi and his brothers. In Mangaia they commenced life afresh. With the broken threads of myth and tradition with which they were conversant they built up a new story of their origin. Their reaction was one of antagonism toward Rarotonga. They concealed their own origin in that land by inventing an origin from a spiritual Auau in the underworld of Avaiki. They could not come from an earthly Avaiki without passing through Rarotonga, hence the deliberate suppression of the truth.

Tangaroa was the principal god of the ruling classes in Rarotonga. The Ngariki myth builders, therefore, must have derived considerable satisfaction in supplanting Tangaroa by Rongo, even to the details of the greater share of food and the taking of Tangaroa's wife. The means by which Tangaroa was belittled in favor of Rongo, because their mother Papa could not eat with the firstborn, is ingenious. A reason was also provided for Tangaroa's leaving and so ceasing to be actively worshiped. Rongo, having been elevated to the most important position in the pantheon, was also given the new position of war god; and two hereditary high priesthoods were instituted. Tangiia in Rarotonga had been apotheosized 200 years before the advent to Mangaia. Tangiia had been their first protector and chief, so in gratitude and to enrich the local mythology he was raised to the position of brother to Rongo and son of the primary parents, Vatea and Papa.

Motoro, son of Tangiia, may perhaps have been deified by the Ngariki ancestors in Rarotonga, but for the purposes of the concealment mechanism he had to be sent for.

Other subterfuges were: making Tangiia and Rangi contemporaries; details of a voyage that never took place; the extra brothers of Motoro not known in Rarotonga; and the incidents surrounding the possession of Papaau-nuku, the first priest of Motoro.

The divine descent of the three leaders was decided upon. They were made ariki (chiefs), and what had been denied them in Rarotonga was placed beyond all cavil by the descendants' assumption of the group name of Ngariki (The-high-chiefs). The short-circuiting of history resulted in complications. Tinirau and other traditional characters could not very well be made brothers of Rongo, so they were relegated to the earlier family of Vari and became brothers of Vatea. The contradictions were ignored, and page 33all scattered scraps of myth and tradition that were remembered were conveniently stuffed into the underworld of Avaiki. In spite of the concealment plan adopted, the Ngariki compilers of myth and history, by the very material they used, have indicated clearly enough to the student of comparative mythology and religion that Rarotonga was the island whence the Ngariki came.

Some significant Rarotongan contacts could not be disposed of, for in-stance, the origin of Tui, the first Shore High Priest of Rongo. The Man-gaian historians do not state why Tui should have shared the authority with Rangi. The most logical explanation is that Rangi and Tui came from Rarotonga together, and that Rangi had to share authority with his colleague. It was the necessity for sharing the authority that probably led to the creation of two high priesthoods of Rongo instead of one. The prejudice against Rarotonga seems to have been perpetuated in the disparaging attitude toward the Ngati-Amai tribe, who came later in voyaging canoes (no te pa'i mai) from Rarotonga.

The association of Mangaia with the older Polynesians is also supported to some extent by the presence of Manaune as a tribal name. Though the name was derived from a fairly recent ancestor named Manaune, the fact that such a personal name was used infers some memory of an ancestral use of the name. Handy (13, p. 7), in distinguishing between Old Tahitian and Arii culture, lists plaiting with the Arii and carving with the Old Tahitian. It is interesting to note that the Ngariki, whom we have associated with the Old Tahitians of Handy, did not plait floor mats or sleeping mats of hala, but used bark cloth as sleeping covers. This forms a marked contrast to the other Cook Islands, in which the plaiting of sleeping mats in hala material reached a higher standard than in Tahiti. Carving, which was well developed in one direction, was not a Ngariki art but was introduced at a later period from Tahiti. Unfortunately, we cannot obtain in Mangaia a clear picture of the older culture, for the Ngariki ancestors had been for two centuries in contact with Rarotongans and the later Ngati-Tane and Tongaiti immigrants must have added new elements to Mangaian culture.

Evidence has been adduced of the comparatively late rationalization that took place in Mangaia with regard to myth and tradition. Although interesting as showing the working of the minds of the early historians, the results cannot have the same value for comparative studies as the myths and traditions of older Polynesian schools.

In the historical narrative to follow will be seen the valiant attempt of the Ngariki to maintain their temporal supremacy on the island. They kept it long enough to impose some of their institutions on later immigrants and to have them adopted in the national pattern. Thus Rongo became the page 34national god served by all tribes. The positions of High Priests to Rongo, through early usage, became established as hereditary positions held within the Ngariki tribe. Later comers evidently accepted the divine origin of the Ngariki ancestors and so could not interfere with the succession and ritual established by the Ngariki in connection with Rongo. The Ngariki immunity from providing victims for sacrifice was also a victory. Their fictitious divine descent thus stood them in good stead.

The history of Mangaia illustrates the attempt of the Ngariki to keep the position of Temporal Lord of Mangaia within their own tribe, and their ultimate failure through the ambition of the warlike Tongaiti. Once precedent was broken down in this direction, the hope of establishing a hereditary ariki with temporal power over the whole island vanished. The principle that temporal power was the reward of war and not of hereditary descent led to frequent changes of secular government and offers a marked contrast to the social organization of Rarotonga, where secular power remained in the hands of the ariki families and succession was hereditary.