Mark's Pages

"When [Don Tomás Gayangos, senior Lieutenant of the Águila, the first Spanish ship to visit Tahiti] reached Vai'ete Bay (now Pape'ete), more canoes came out to greet the Spaniards, bringing two men who told them that the ari'i of this district was a man named Tomaheni. This ari'i and his wife soon came out to the launch, accompanied by a chief from Mo'orea named 'Ami'. At this time Vehiatua II's people were at war with Mo'orea, having become entangled in a dispute over the high chieftainship of that island, and although Reti greeted these men politely he soon turned his back and clapped his hand over his mouth, urging discretion upon his companions. When the Mo'orea chief began to malign Ti'itorea (Vehiatua's regent), saying that he and his people were thieves and robbers, Tomaheni joined in this indignant tirade. Gayangos asked them whether any European ship had visited Mo'orea, and Ami replied that they had seen a ship off the southern coast of the island but it had soon sailed away (presumably the Dolphin, which had sailed past Mo'orea). This man was so suspicious of the Spaniards that he and his companions slept that night on board double canoes at a safe distance from the launch, keeping three lights burning all night on board their vessel."

— Anne Salmond, Aphrodite's Island