Next follows a long history of the building of various maraes and koutu, in honour of various gods, to each of which he appointed guardians, whose names are given, many of which are borne by the mataiapos, or chiefs of the islands at this day. Most of these maraes are said to have been named after others in Avaiki (probably the eastern group) and other places, whilst others were named after incidents in Tangiia's eventful life. The maraes are so numerous that it must have taken a very long time to build them all. Considering that they had also to build houses, plant food, etc., it seems probable that some few years were thus occupied.
Whilst building the marae named Angiangi, and before a guardian had been appointed, there arrived another expedition under Naea, in his canoe "Atea-roa."[1] "They were seven in number," which I think refers to the number of the people, which of course means fourteen, according to the Polynesian method of counting—not a very large expedition. It has been stated that the New Zealand canoes came with the tere of Naea, but in this I think there is a mistake. Had they done so, the writer of the Rarotongan Native History would not fail to have mentioned the fact. Only one canoe is named above, and that is not known to New Zealand tradition. This Naea and his party are said to have come from a place called Arava, in the Paumotu Group; they belonged to the Tonga-iti clan.
It was with this expedition also that Te Aia family came to Rarotonga, from Avaiki (Western Pacific) originally,
- ↑ It might have been thought perhaps, that Atea-roa, is a corruption of the name, Aotea, or Aotea-roa, one of the celebrated canoes of the Maori migration. But I think not, for reasons which will be given when we deal with that subject.
