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The Song Of Rahero
by
{1k} “Hiopa the king.” Hiopa was really the name of the king (chief) of
Vaiau; but I could never learn that of the king of Paea–pronounce to rhyme
with the Indian ayah–and I gave the name where it was most needed. This
note must appear otiose indeed to readers who have never heard of either of
these two gentlemen; and perhaps there is only one person in the world
capable at once of reading my verses and spying the inaccuracy. For him, for
Mr. Tati Salmon, hereditary high chief of the Tevas, the note is solely
written: a small attention from a clansman to his chief.
{1l} “Let the pigs be tapu.” It is impossible to explain tapu in a note; we
have it as an English word, taboo. Suffice it, that a thing which was tapu
must not be touched, nor a place that was tapu visited.
{1m} “Fish, the food of desire.” There is a special word in the Tahitian
language to signify HUNGERING AFTER FISH. I may remark that here is one of
my chief difficulties about the whole story. How did king, commons, women,
and all come to eat together at this feast? But it troubled none of my
numerous authorities; so there must certainly be some natural explanation.
{1n} “The mustering word of the clan.”
Teva te ua,
Teva te matai!
Teva the wind,
Teva the rain !
{1o} “The star of the dead.” Venus as a morning star. I have collected
much curious evidence as to this belief. The dead retain their taste for a
fish diet, enter into copartnery with living fishers, and haunt the reef and
the lagoon. The conclusion attributed to the nameless lady of the legend
would be reached to-day, under the like circumstances, by ninety per cent of
Polynesians: and here I probably understate by one-tenth.
{1p} See note “1o” above.