The' island of Tahiti is supposed to have been discovered
by Quiros, and to have been named by that navigator “ La'
Sagittaria.” „ It was revisited by Captain Wallis or discovered
for a second time in 1767» The six islands named Ulietea,
Otahè, Bolabola, Huaheine, Tabai, and Maurua, which are
near to Otaheite and inhabited by the same race, were found
by Cook in 1769, and this groupe received. from him the
name of the Society Islands. It comprehends likewise some
other small islands.
The people of Tahiti, like the natives of Tonga, are| divided
into several classes. There are three ranks in the
community as at Tonga. The Erees or Tiraras are a noble
caste; they possess land, which is cultivated for them by the
Toutous or the working class. The Toutous are subjected to
a sort of vassalage or feudal obedience. Besides these there
is an intermediate class termed in Tahiti M anahounes,, corresponding
with the Mataboulais of the Longa islanders.
They are independent possessors of land, which they „enltivatè
with their own hands. The origin of this division of ranks is
unknown; it hqs been supposed to be the result of conquest,
and the Erees to be a different race from the Toutous; but
this conjecture has been disapproved, as we shall perceive,
by the best informed persons. It has received no confirmation
from the traditions of the islanders, and. is discountenanced
by an extensive observation of facts.
The Tahitian people, like other tribes of the Polynesian
Islands, havé traditional stories of their origin. These
legends have been collected by Mr. Ellis, one of the ipost
intelligent of the missionaries who have devoted themselves
with success unparallelled in later times to the conversion of
these barbarous races to Christianity and civilisation. As
such traditions are the only sources of history that exist in
the want of written documents, and as they are calculated to
throw some light on the relations of different tribes to each
other, it will be worth while to pay some attention to them.
The tradition of this tribe, like the myths of all . Pagan
nations, represents the first men, not as created, by God, but
as produced in the way of generation from the invisible beings
who are supposed to have pre-existed. The island of Raiatea,
which is looked upon by the Tahitians as a sort of sacred
land ór paradisë, was' the scene of the first incarnation of
the’ Tii (Bii) ? or spirits who had there immerhorially dwelt.
Tii MàaŸâxvüta, or “ the spirit reaching towards the land,”
ànd Tii Maat dated, “ thb spirit spreading towards the sea,”
or the ' getiii of earth and ocean, 1 were the first of these
invisible bëïffjgs'Who obtained bodies" and begot the human
iraeëï ^hëÿ'setfled' at Cpoa^ a plaih in' Raiatea; and after
peopling that ..island spread their family óvèrthe rest of the
^archipelago.' Others say that 'Tii was fiot properly a spirit,
but me first ' màtt made byiftegodsp and that his Wifé wàs
soihëtiines caïïétt' Tii and at others Hina and that their
spirits" shrvivin^ the dissolution of the body werë still called
TH, and Wéré * worshipped "as the ghosts of the departed till
idolatry wks.abolished at Tahiti. Mr. Ellis observes that in
tflfe1* Lafirones prayers were offered to*TAnitr, who, like the
Tii, were regarded both as the manes ofvfhe ’dead and as a
soft of inferior divinities.'
The maker of th#world iscâlled by the Tahitians Taaróa,
which séfenfs tb hëbfily a diàrCctic 'modification of Tàfigâloâ,
the name ô f the Totigan god*, who fished up the iSÏahdS'fröm
thé Séâ. Taaroa is sometimes ?sâid to havé worked so hard
in making the land that his* perspiration ran down in ^alt
streams and formed the Sea. But he is by otherSbfeliëvèd- to
have descended like Jupiter the Æther, and to have’ rendered
the earth pfegnant, whenCe the heavenly bodieslând all visible
object’s had their commencement of^existeiice, as Well as Tii
andôpëroa, a son and daughter, who were the thuestors b f
the human race.-
The Tahitian cosmögohy'tó related in a moré circumstantial
manner by Mr. Ellis ■n^‘fiiitnèvUç<^îît'gftefcr'bÿ"Mr.‘BarfF,
whom 'Ellis describes! as deèpîÿ Vèrsed in rae ihythblôgÿhTthe ’
South Sea Islanders.! AcCOrding to this relktfdn Mak was
the fifth order Of intelligent beings pröuUóëd by Taaróa and
Hina, of whom ah account will hêrèaftër bë ’given. The
human racé Wâs called Rahiï taattt'i te do id Tii, “ the CfeW
or Order of the wOrkT by Tii;” Hina said id Taaróa, “ What
shall be done? h’Ow shall man bë' Obtained?’*' Taaroa
answefèd, “ Gö On to the shOlfe to the interior, fef^l^rOtheS’*-
rtinr'V.