Mark's Pages

"For Tupaia, the return to his conquered birthplace was sad and humiliating, and he gave one of the sailors, James Magra, a long account of the invasion of Ra'iatea and his own subsequent history which is almost indistinguishable from the oral narratives about this period collected by the early missionaries on the island. According to Tupaia's own account, Borabora had been a place of exile to which the high chiefs of Tahiti and other islands had despatched thieves and other malefactors. The outcasts soon became pirates, however, and began to attack those who had banished them. When Puni (who was now almost ninety years old) became the leader of the Borabora warriors, they attacked and conquered Taha'a, before attacking Ra'iatea, where Tupaia had been a subordinate chief. The Ra'iatea people had fought bravely, resisting the invaders over a three-year period until Puni killed their high chief. Afterwards his young son was immediately declared his successor, and invested with the maro 'ura at Taputapuatea. After a final attack during which Tupaia was wounded, the young chief was forced to flee to Tahiti, followed by Tupaia who soon became Purea's lover and the high priest of Papara."

— Anne Salmond, Aphrodite's Island