THE EXPLOITS OF TAMARO-THE-TERRIBLE; A MYTH FROM MANIHIKI.
BY REV. WILLIAM WYATT GILL, LL. D.
INTRODUCTION.
Almost in the centre of the South Pacific, about 700 miles N. N. W. of Rarotonga, lie the twin atolls of Manihiki and Rakahauga. These islands, twenty-five miles apart, are inhabited by one race descended from a single pair, Toa and Tapairu, natives of Rarotonga.
The following myth was communicated to me by Ioane, a native minister of Manihiki. Ioane derived it from his aged father, one of the recognized repositaries of ancient wisdom, who was past middle age when Christianity was introduced to those atolls in 1849.
Three years and a half ago these atolls were, at the earnest request of the natives, annexed to Great Britain.
The food of these islanders consists merely of fish, cocoanut and a coarse kind of caladium (called by the natives Puraka) grown on Rakahauga. Annual voyages are made by the natives of Manihiki to the sister-island in canoes, for the purpose of obtaining a supply of "puraka"; in these expeditions many lives are lost through sudden storms. The voyage should be accomplished between sunrise and sunset.
MYTH.
In Spiritland (Avaiki) the following wonderful feats were wrought:
Tamaro-the-Terrible[1] had two sons. In that land lived a cruel
- ↑ Ta-maro (Manihiki)-Te-maro (Rarotonga) i. e. The Girdle. The full name is Tamarohae (Manihki)-Temaro-taae (rarotonga). Hae (M) Taae (R), means savage or terrible. I do not think that any stress should be laid upon the signification of the first part of the hero's name (Tamaro). It is extremely common.
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