Succession of Kings defending the Shore (= Te au ariki pa tai).

1.	Tui	Sew. From Rarotonga.
2.	Tama-tapu	Sacred son. Son of preceding. Some say Te-pa = The-defender, who was born on "the sacred sandstone" (te kea inamoa).
3.	Vari	Beginning. Vari was sister to Te-pa.page 636
4.	Buanga	Budding (a female).
5.	Vaerua-rau	Two-hundred-spirits. Son of Buanga. His son, Rau-ue, was made principal (the sixth) king of Mangaia, Deified after his violent death.
6.	Oito	The-ancient. Slain and eaten by his hereditary foes in Mautara's time.
7.	Kai-au paku	Kingly-office-holder I. Also called Tuki-rangi = Sky-striker. Son of Oito.
8.	Tenio-pakari	The-strong-toothed.
9.	Kanune.	In the days of Mautara. Slain by Raumea.
10.	Te-ivi-rau	Two-hundred-bones (i.e., relatives). Drowned at sea when in chase of Paoa.
11.	Kai-au II.	Kingly-office-holder II.
12.	Numangatini.	Appointed shore-king by Pangemiro in a.d. 1814. When (in 1821) Teao was deposed, he became sole king of Mangaia. The final word and collective kingly authority were then vested by the conquering chiefs in Numangantini alone.

In the incessant fighting of Ngauta's younger days the kingly family was almost exterminated by their hereditary enemies, i.e., the Teipe and Tongan tribes, then masters of the island. Only a royal female (Buanga) and her infant son (Vaeruarau) survived. Even Vaeruarau was eventually murdered at the suggestion (not by the hand) of Ngauta.

Even the shore-king, after he had been formally seated on the sacred sandstone at O-Rongo, was so sacred (tapu) in the estimation of the men of past generations that even "the lord of Mangaia" approached him, not without an offering, on all fours Yet, when the charm of peace had been broken by the wanton shedding of human blood, this sanctity (tapu) departed, and the shore-king went to his ancestral lands in the interior without any special reverence being paid to him. So sacred were the persons of the kings that no part of their bodies might be tattooed, nor could they take part in actual warfare.

I would earnestly warn all students of these pages of the danger of laying too great stress upon the meaning of these royal names. In mythology nothing is more important than the study of names, as showing how naturally the myth originated in the minds of "the wise men" of past ages; but in history (which this undoubtedly is) nothing can be more misleading.

As to the origin of the people, the universal tradition of the Hervey Islanders points to Avaiki (= Hawaiki, Hawaii, Savaiki, Savai'i) as the original home of their ancestors. Sometimes this region is called "the night" (te po), i.e., the place where the sun hides itself at night, or, in other words, "the west." Their ancestors are said to have "come up," i.e., to have sailed eastward. When a man died his spirit returned to Avaiki, i.e., the original home of their ancestors in the region of sunset.

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Owing probably to the hiding of their dead in deep caves, so numerous in these coral islands, Avaiki came to be conceived of as a vast hollow beneath them.

In Avaiki are many regions, bearing separate names, but all to be regarded as part of spirit-land. For example, spirits are said to travel to Manuka (= Manu'a), or Tutuila, or Upolu, or Vavau, or Tonga, or Iva, or Rotuma (= Rotumah), &c., &c., &c. The problem now is to determine whence the Samoans (i.e., the clan or family of Moa), sprang. This "Moa "is the hereditary king of the Samoans, his residence being always on "Tau," the largest of the three islets collectively designated "Manu'a."

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