Marae ?
pp. 36-37 · Read in the full issue
Which Was Cook's Marae ?
Some Further Light and Argument
By J. D. Mccomish
THE subject of Mr. A. C. Rowland’s article in the “P.1.M.” of May, is one in which I am keenly interested.
Like Mr. Rowland, I have spent a good deal of time endeavouring to locate “the great moral at Attahooroo”, where, on September 1, 1777, Captain Cook, in the company of Otoo (the King), saw a human sacrifice offered to the god Oro.
I found that “Attahooroo” was not a place, but a large district on the west ern side of the island (Tahiti), which apparently covered the area of the pre sent-day district of Punaauia (and pos sibly part of the district of Paea). Cook’s account (contained in the record of his 3rd voyage, Vol. 2, pp. 31 et seq.) shows that the marae was near the shore.
“The dead body, or sacrifice, was in a small canoe that lay on the beach, and partly in the wash of the sea, facing the morai. Two of the priests, with some of their attendants, were sitting by the canoe, the others at the morai The ceremonies now began. One of the priests seated at the morai, facing those who were upon the beach, now began a long prayer, and, at certain times, sent down young plantain trees, which were laid upon the sacrifice. . . As soon as the prayer was ended, the priests at the morai, with their attendants, went and sat down by those upon the beach . .
The ceremonies continued for some time, but there is no need for me to quote further, the above extracts clearly showing that the site of the marae was close to the shore. I am therefore at a loss to understand Mr. Rowland’s statement that Cook’s account places it at a considerable distance inland.
Acceptance of this statement, together with another quoted by Mr. Rowland from Ellis, apparently diverted him and Mr. Phillips when they were, or so it appears to me, hot on the scent of “Cook’s marae”. (Ellis, in his “Poly nesian Researches”, Vol. 1, page 207, mis quotes Wm. Wilson, first mate of the “Duff”, by showing the latter’s descrip tion of “The great morai at Pappara” as that of the pyramid of “the large temple at Atehuru”. The marae which Wilson described and sketched—see page 207 of the account of the voyage of the “Duff”—was that visited by Cook and Banks in 1769, in the district of Papara.
It exists to-day as a vast, irregular mount of broken coral, etc., and is known as Marae Mahaiatea.) Mr. Rowland quotes Emery as saying (Bishop Museum Bulletin No. 116) that he believed Marae-Taata, a group of three enclosed maraes lying 460 yards from the lagoon, near Papehue, Paea District, to be “Cook’s marae”. The dis tance of Marae-Taata from the shore of the lagoon, in the face of Cook's descrip tion, debars it from consideration as be ing “Cook’s marae”.
Marae Taputaputea, on Punaauia Point (see Emory, page 61), seems to me to fit in better with Cook’s description.
Ellis (Vol. 1, pp. 496 et seq.) says that, after the acceptance of Christianity, the people of Tahiti destroyed everything connected with this marae (which he calls one of the greatest national maraes) excepting “the massy pile of
solid stone-work” which formed one end of <he area which the marae included.
This pile of slone-work remained until 1824, when, in connection with the annual examination of the pupils at the mission school at Burder’s Point (Punaauia Pt.) it was levelled, and the materials used to build a platform 3 ft. high, 194 ft. long, and 175 ft. wide, the whole sur rounded by a stone wall cemented with lime. On this platform, on June 11, 1824, ninety tables were arranged, seats provided, and all the children in the school, about 240, dined together. Inter ference of this nature makes it difficult for investigators to follow the lines of the original construction.
Emory records further interference by the French authorities in 1846. In Bishop Museum Bulletin No. 116, Emory de scribes all the maraes which he was able to trace in the ancient district of Attahooroo. Marae Taputaputea, on Punaauia Point, is the only one which is close to the sea. In this respect, at least, it answers Cook’s description.
With reference to the very fine en graving which illustrates Mr. Rowland’s article: This does not depict “The great marae Taputapuatea at Punaauia (Atehuru)” but the “Great morai of Temarre at Pappara in Otaheite”, sketched by Wm. Wilson in 1797, and shown in the account of the voyage of the “Duff”, facing page 207.