Other formats

    TEI XML file   ePub eBook file  

Connect

    mail icontwitter iconBlogspot iconrss icon

The Genealogy of the Kings of Rarotonga and Mangaia as illustrating the colonisation of that island and the Hervey Group

Pedigree of Makea Takau, as given to me by herself in 1883

Pedigree of Makea Takau, as given to me by herself in 1883.

* Ātea = Vātea = Avatea = Noon. The full form is Avatea. This Ātea, or Vātea, is one of the great divinities of Polynesia.

* ātea = Vātea = Avatea = Noon. The full form is Avatea. This Ātea, or Vātea, is one of the great divinities of Polynesia.

Rongo is the son of Ātea, or Vātea, whose sanguinary worship was so general in Eastern Polynesia. Rongo-oe probably means "Kongo-the-steersman," i.e., of the ship of the state.

Kongo is the son of Ātea, or Vātea, whose sanguinary worship was so general in Eastern Polynesia. Rongo-oe probably means "Kongo-the-steersman," i.e., of the ship of the state.

Tinirau was brother to Atea, Vātea, or Avatea, and was lord of all fish. This fish-god Tinirau, was accordingly one of the great primary deities of Polynesia.

Tinirau was brother to Atea, Vātea, or Avatea, and was lord of all fish. This fish-god Tinirau, was accordingly one of the great primary deities of Polynesia.

1. Makea Karika Makea-the-terrible.
2. Makea Putakitetai Makea-lord-leading-captives.
3. Makea te ariki akamataku Makea-the-king-striking-terror.
4. Makea Ātea* rere ao Makea-Noon* rushing-on-the-world
5. Makea te ariki iti au Mak ea-the-king-giving-peace.
6. Makea te ariki noo marie Makea-the-quiet-king.
7. Makea te rā tu Makea-(like)-the-upright-mast.
8. Makea Rongo-oe Makea-Rongo of-the-paddle.
9. Makea vai katau Makea-of-the-right-wing.
10. Makea peau rango Makea-of-the-fly-like-wings.
11. Makea putua ariki Makea-the-feasted-king.
12. Makea tinorei Makea-of-the-handsome-person.
13. Rangi Makea ko Takaia Heavenly Makea or Takaia (who went to Mangaia to wage war).
14. Makea tumu pu Makea-of-the-(royal)-conch-shell (who went to Atiu to wage war).
15. Makea, who went to Tahiti on a peaceful errand.
16. Makea te ariki ape tini Makea-the-king-with-many-faults.
17. Makea taruia Makea-heaped-up.
18. Makea te-patua-kino Makea-badly-beaten.
19. Makea pini Makea-the-sorrowful.
20. Makea Tinirau Makea-lord
21. Makea Pori Makea the fat (who welcomed Mr. Williams in 1823).
22. Makea Davida Makea David.
23. Makea Tevairua Makea-the-spirit.
24. Makea Daniela Makea-Daniel.
25. Maker Abela Makea-Abel.page 634
26. Makea Takau* Makea-Twenty,* now living.

There can be no doubt that the first list is the complete one. In this latter account there is no reference to the dual kingship at "Araitetonga." It is confessed that Rarotongan history (so far as Makea is concerned) begins with Karika; but there is lying before me a list of purely mythological names, given as ancestors of the Karika who sailed from Tonga, Rotuma, Avaiki (= Savai'i), and Manuka (the Manu'a cluster of three islands, forming the eastern portion of the Saruoan group. Sometimes Tau, the largest of these three islands, is called by Hervey Islanders Manuka). It is believed that Karika made his final start for the southeast and Rarotonga from the island of Tau or Manu'a, where the marae of "Salia" = "Karika" may still be seen. The place is called "Rarptonga." Tau is 700 miles northwest of the island of Rarotonga.

Karika's great double canoe, in which he made eight wonderful voyages, had two masts, and carried (tradition says) 170 people (okoitu). He gave to the queen-island of the Hervey Group, the home of his descendants, its name "Rarotonga" = "(in memory of) Western Tonga." Karika selected as his followers the fleetest runners and the bravest, men of the various islands he touched at, i.e., of Tonga, Rotuma, Savai'i, and Tau.

It is said that on the island of Rotuma is still shown the "footprint of Salia" = Karika. And at the famous marae of Opoa, in the island of Raiatea, "the stone-seat of Ari'a" = Karika.

* In the memory of "twenty" heads obtained at Maugaia by Makea's warriors generations ago. It is an ancient uame. See my "Savage Life in Polynesia," page 17.