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Ethnology of Manihiki and Rakahanga

Contact With Western Culture

Contact With Western Culture

Bellinghausen, the Russian explorer, visited Rakahanga in 1820 and named it Grand Duke Alexander. In 1822 Captain Patrickson in the Good page 6
Manihiki Islets 1. Rangahoe 2. Name unknown (not recorded) 3. Hohahake-rahi 4. Hohahake-iti 5. Te Motu-o-Poia 6. Tima 7. Tapa 8. Paeke-rahi 9. Paeke-iti 10. Hiropotiki 11. Tikapai 12. Name Unknown 13. Moturoa 14. Mairere-tou 15. Motu-fara [Motu-whara] 16. Te Motu-o-Pae 17. Fakifaki [Whakiwhaki] 18. Taingaru-iti 19. Taingaru-rahi 20. Topuaikaha 21. Name Unknown 22. Raukotaha 23. Rifa-iti [Riwha-iti] 24. Toruerue-iti 25. Toruerue-rahi 26. Punganui-rahi 27. Punganui-iti 28. Name unknown 29. Nafarakura [Nawharakura] 30. Tavahavaha 31. Tarakite-iti 32. Kopu-Ngaha 33. Tarakite-iti 34. Hakari-manu 35. Motu-tou 36. Toputangaroa 37. Aratini 38. Nuku-Hiro 39. Iotia 40. Moina Figure 2. Map of Manihiki showing villages Tauhunu and Tukou. (Based on a sketch by Henry Williams, Government Surveyor, Cook Islands.) The spelling “Tukao” on the map should be “Tukou.”

Manihiki Islets
1. Rangahoe
2. Name unknown (not recorded)
3. Hohahake-rahi
4. Hohahake-iti
5. Te Motu-o-Poia
6. Tima
7. Tapa
8. Paeke-rahi
9. Paeke-iti
10. Hiropotiki
11. Tikapai
12. Name Unknown
13. Moturoa
14. Mairere-tou
15. Motu-fara [Motu-whara]
16. Te Motu-o-Pae
17. Fakifaki [Whakiwhaki]
18. Taingaru-iti
19. Taingaru-rahi
20. Topuaikaha
21. Name Unknown
22. Raukotaha
23. Rifa-iti [Riwha-iti]
24. Toruerue-iti
25. Toruerue-rahi
26. Punganui-rahi
27. Punganui-iti
28. Name unknown
29. Nafarakura [Nawharakura]
30. Tavahavaha
31. Tarakite-iti
32. Kopu-Ngaha
33. Tarakite-iti
34. Hakari-manu
35. Motu-tou
36. Toputangaroa
37. Aratini
38. Nuku-Hiro
39. Iotia
40. Moina
Figure 2. Map of Manihiki showing villages Tauhunu and Tukou. (Based on a sketch by Henry Williams, Government Surveyor, Cook Islands.) The spelling “Tukao” on the map should be “Tukou.”

page 7
Figure 3. Map of Rakahanga, much of the land area shown without the shallow channels which divide the small islands. (Based on an uncompleted survey by Henry Williams, Government Surveyor, Cook Islands.)

Figure 3. Map of Rakahanga, much of the land area shown without the shallow channels which divide the small islands. (Based on an uncompleted survey by Henry Williams, Government Surveyor, Cook Islands.)

page 8 Hope saw both atolls. He gave Rakahanga the name Reirson and called Manihiki Humphrey.

According to Gill (10, vol. 2, p. 266), the first person to tell the islanders of the “white man's God” was a Tahitian lad who ran away from a whaling ship that called at Manihiki to get a supply of coconuts. Some of the young men of Manihiki set out in a canoe expedition in the hope of getting to some of the islands of which they were told. “In this and other enterprises of kindred character,” writes Gill, “many of them lost their lives, and on one occasion some were taken to the distant islands of Samoa.”

The first actual contact with Western culture was brought about by an accident which befell a party sailing from Manihiki to Rakahanga in 1849. A canoe was blown out of its course and was picked up by a whaling ship 80 miles from land. The whaler picked up the crew of five men and four women. Gill (10, vol. 2, p. 268) states that the captain intended to land the Manihikians at Aitutaki or Rarotonga, but that, not being able to make either island, he landed them at Manuae, where an American salesman was living, collecting coconuts, and feeding swine for the Tahitian market. The missionary ship John Williams eventually called at Manuae and took the Manihikians to Aitutaki, which had come under Christian influence in 1821. After a fortnight on Aitutaki they were returned to Manihiki on the mission ship, accompanied by two native teachers named Aporo and Tahiri. The people allowed the teachers to land, and the London Missionary Society thus established itself on Manihiki.

The teachings of the missionaries were accepted; in less than twelve months after the missionaries landed, most of the material representations of the native gods were destroyed. Churches and schools were established, and the foundations of Western culture were laid by the native teachers. Gill, on a voyage to Sydney in the mission ship, visited Manihiki in 1852. He remarks (10, vol. 2, p. 276) that in the space of three years all the inhabitants, with the exception of one hundred persons, were under Christian instruction. After the establishment of the teachers, twenty persons out of two hundred who were overtaken by a storm were drowned in a voyage to Rakahanga. As a result of missionary representations in 1852, the Christians in Sydney purchased a boat for the teachers, and the Aitutakians purchased another. With the introduction of European boats commenced the passing away of the old-time double sailing canoes in which the voyages between the two atolls had been made. Gill and the native teachers also used their influence in persuading the people to abandon the voyages between the two atolls. To prevent the necessity for the voyages, the population was divided, and each atoll was occupied permanently. The religious influence of the introduced culture resulted in the destruction of the maraes and of page 9 the native gods and in the loss of the priestly functions of the two ariki known as the Whainga-aitu and the Whakaheo (p. 48). Houses and clothing were affected by the introduction of new modes and materials. The abandonment of the inter-atoll voyages with permanent occupation of the two atolls by the divided people led to further changes in social organization in which the power of the high chiefs lessened as the influence of the missionaries increased. One of the Whakaheo even offered the succession of the title to the missionary teacher, Tahiri. Tahiri refused the title but later used his influence to have succession conferred on the female line, as his selected candidate was a deacon in the church (p. 54).

The missionary teachers, following the procedure adopted by the London Missionary Society in Aitutaki, Rarotonga, and Mangaia, formulated a number of moral laws, the infringing of many of which we would regard as “sins” to be dealt with by moral teaching or church discipline. The chiefs, however, who had become deacons of the church, could not let such offences go without inflicting material punishment. A list of fines to be paid in money and trade was instituted. Some elements of the Western culture of the early white missionaries were evidently adopted, for accused persons were put in the stocks to await trial, and women found guilty of sex offences were drummed through the village after they had been fined. If an offender was caught on a Saturday evening, he or she remained in the stocks all day Sunday, for the Sabbath could not be desecrated by the holding of a court on that day. The administration of the laws was in the hands of people termed Turimen who were elected annually by the heads of households. A Turiman held the double office of police and judge. In Manihiki, Turimen were divided into four vigilance committees which took alternate weeks of duty. An offender was reported by a Turiman to his committee, and the committee promptly exacted the fine laid down for the offence. There was no formal trial and the accused had no appeal. Half of the fines went to the ariki, and the other half was divided among the Turimen. The system led to espionage of sexual behavior in order that the amount of fines might be increased as much as possible, and a mean spirit foreign to Polynesian psychology was engendered. However, in the curious adjustment that took place was the retention of a Polynesian trait, inasmuch as the relatives of the offender shared his burden by assisting him to pay the fine in order to save the family name.

Moss (20, pp. 117, 118) sums up the situation as follows:

The laws are objectionable, and their modes of enforcing them, putting men and women in the public stocks or drumming them through the public street, are bad enough; but the methods of prevention and discovery which these Turimen adopt, are worse. If a Turiman suspects a man of having taken liquor, he will stop him at any time and order him to “blow” so that he may discover if his breath has lost its normal sweetness. page 10 The decision then come to is conclusive, adopted as a judgment by his fellow Turimen and the culprit fined accordingly. A “curfew” drum is beat at eight o'clock, and after that hour if anyone is seen abroad the Turimen are down upon him with a heavy fine next day. Their lovely moonlight nights bring no enjoyment to these people.

Henry Williams, Sr., informed me that three Peruvian slavers visited the atolls, but as one ship came within an ace of being wrecked by drifting onto the reef, the slavers withdrew without effecting depredations as they did in Tongareva.

The notorious Captain Bully Hayes in the brig Rona foundered at sea near Manihiki, according to Moss (20, p. 86). Captain Hayes was kindly treated by the Manihikians, who helped him to build another small craft. The vessel completed, he started with a party of Manihikians for a marriage feast at Rakahanga. He purposely missed Rakahanga, however, and made Samoa. He induced the Manihikians to work on one of the plantations and charged their employer a good round sum for bringing laborers to Samoa.

In marked contrast to scoundrels of the Hayes type were men of the stamp of Henry Greig and George Ellis. Greig employed Manihikian labor on Fanning Island. He married a Manihikian woman of high rank, and his descendants on Manihiki are respected people. George Ellis was a trader on Manihiki and taught the people much in the way of useful crafts. His two sons, Ben and Dan, are leaders in the atoll.

A certain amount of friction existed at one time between the supporters of the native missionary and a faction opposed to him. The French at Tahiti were invited to annex the atolls, but when the French warship appeared for this purpose the native missionary hauled up the British flag and dared anyone to lower it. The crisis passed, and French annexation did not materialize.

In the copra and pearl shell trade which developed, trading firms established touch with Manihiki and Rakahanga from Rarotonga. Thus for both religious and commercial purposes the atolls were connected with Rarotonga. As the result of a petition in 1900 by the ariki of the Cook Islands, Manihiki and Rakahanga were included in the boundaries of New Zealand by an Imperial Order in Council in 1901. The atolls are governed by New Zealand through the Resident Commissioner at Rarotonga. Henry Williams, Sr., who is of part-Manihikian blood, is Government Agent for the two atolls. He is assisted in each atoll by a council of eight nominated persons. The villages in the two atolls are models of orderly arrangement and cleanliness and are not surpassed in any of the Cook Islands.