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from notes archived at Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawai'i |
Category: | Itu'ti'u(1) | Topic: | District Divisions | Consultant: | |
Hapmafau consisted of the district from Tua'koi to Lau. It was under one chief, Irava the faufisi. The faufisi according to Terani was "like a mua, merely ornamental". Hapmaka consisted of the district on the north coast Ropure to Mea and Melsa'a. |
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(2) | Topic: | Ho'aga | Consultant: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Motusa is the chiefly ho'aga of Itutiu. It is called an ese rather than a ho'aga. There are several titles belonging to it.
| Ho'aga are clusters of households, under the direction of a sub-chief, who cooperate in performing tasks. Districts are divided into ho'aga.
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(3) | Topic: | Ho'aga | Consultant: | ||||||||||||||
Feavai was not a ho'aga formerly but was divided into:
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(4) | Topic: | Chiefly lineage | Consultant: | |
The chiefs of Itu'ti'u today are descended from a Noa'tau family. The first of the family is Urakmata.
The children of Po'ou and FOnman came to Itu'ti'u and from some of these sprang the present line of chiefs. The following is the story of how they became the heads of the chiefly families. The sons of Po'ou and FOnman wished to make a trip to another island. FOnman had the people of Noa'tau make a canoe for his sons. They chose a tree from the hill Maragte'u, and made the canoe which the four sons and the three sisters took for their voyage. They sailed away from Rotuma, but struck head winds, and after a few days they landed again on their own island, but at Motusa. At that time there was no isthmus where the village stands today, but merely a sandbar which was under water at high tide. When they arrived there were four chiefs at the Motusa end of the district.
The canoe landed somewhere near Motusa, and it is said Tagata Iroa called the place Gasava which means 'between'. Afterwards Tokroa married the daughter of Kaitu'u of Mea (a place between Ropure and Salvaka), and they lived at Gasava. The people of the canoe wished to call it after their canoe, but the name remained Gasava. Pogtor returned to his home in Noa'tau, after living in Itu'ti'u sometime. Fiu married Maue, a man of Sumi, and it is from these two that Tigarea and Jotama of Motusa are descended. Vaivao went to Lau to live and married later Tepa. Tepa is now 'aitu of Lau. Tagata Iroa married Tukagsau. Vakatoa asked Veu to come and live with him. FOnman had another son by a wife other than Poou. This boy was called Kafoniak. When he learned that his half-brothers and sisters had landed at Motusa and had not gone away from Rotuma, he asked FOnman if he might have some land at Fa'u, the other end of the island. Fonman sent him down to Fa'u to be chief of the entire end of the island. (It is supposed by Catherine that there were no districts in that time.) Kafoniak lived with Veu for some time but later returned to Noa'tau and left Veu the chief of Fa'u. At another time, the informant stated that Kafonika came to fa'u and gave Veu the chieftainship directly by order of FOnman, and then returned to Noa'tau. But Savlei did not like the leadership of Veu and sent to FOnman for another chief. He gave them Kafonika who went to Savlei and later fought against Veu and the Motusa people. After that the head chieftainship of Itu'ti'u was in Savlei. When Veu was chief in Itu'ti'u, Varamua was made sau, and he went with his wife to live there, from Malhaha. After his tafi was finished his wife resented losing her position as sau's wife, and ran away from Varomua to live at Ahau. She was pregnant at the time. When Veu heard she was at Ahau, he asked her to come and live with him as his wife. Po'ou came and had her child by Varomua while she was Veu's wife. The boy was named Kona'u 'ö rua, Kona'u with two fathers. Konau also gave the child the name Tifaktuag. Sau ne Pogi gave it the name of Urakmata. The boy later married three times and the son of his last wife was called Veu [#3]. When Veu [#1] died, Kona'u became [Veu #2] in his place, and he had a son who became the third Veu [ #3]. He married Tavake, daughter of Tokoara of Noa'tau. Veu [#3] md. Tavaka Marasia married Su'tefua (daughter of Taipo of Lopta) Faksuiala married Sün
The four chiefly families of Itu'ti'u today who elect the chief of that district are descended from these four children. Their fuag ri are all in the ho'aga of Motusa and are almost adjoining. These four families are now the highest in the district and choose the chief, but they are not so old as those of Vakanua and Tagata Iroa. Irava is faufisi of the district and Vainuku is third chief and head of the north coast. He lives in Salvaka. |
hani = female
'aitu = local spirit
fa'u = western end of the island
tafi = one ritual cycle, or six months (the period for which a sau was appointed).
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(5) | Topic: | Chiefly lineage | Consultant: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Raki was the first chief of Itu'ti'u. To her is ascribed the loss of much bush land because she only claimed land where she traveled on the shore. Malhaha and Juju bush land cut in back of Tua'koi and Ropouri, so that Itu'ti'u has two arms extending down each coast but does not hold the land between these extremities. The sons of Raki were Veu and Sumi. Firoa was a later chief woman of Itu'ti'u. She had two sons Urakmat and Garagsau. They became chiefs of the district but they were too tyrannical and worked the people too hard. In the end the Savlei people killed them, and the chiefs of the district were in Savlei after that. These chiefs became pure.
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pure = one in charge; decision-maker
fa 'es Losa = lit. 'man of Losa',or 'headman'
mafua = spokesman for a district chief | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Category: | Itu'ti'u(6) | Topic: | Chiefly titles | Consultant: | ||
Fonman had 12 wives in Noa'tau and wished to marry a Samoan woman, Afoa who was a sister of Muriatituaga. The people of Noa'tau objected to her and said she was a cannibal. They said they would put her to a test and if she won she could be married to Fonman but otherwise they would kill her. Fonman gave the woman a bunch of bananas, par mea, and two sölkäe, the dry husks from leaf sprouts of the coconut used for cooking fires, and told her that she must cook the bananas. Afoa cooked one banana and as she did so dried its skin and used this for fuel to cook the next and in this way cooked the whole bunch. She was allowed to marry Fonman, and they had many children. About this time Savlei was running over Tua'koi because they had no chief to lead them. Tua'koi sent to Fonman for a chief and he gave them Tiusek, son of Afoa. Savlei stopped raiding Tua'koi for now their chiefs were half brothers, sons of Fonman. |
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(7) | Topic: | Chiefly Titles | Consultant: | ||
The head title of Feavai was not Fonmanu, formerly; it had been brought over from Malhaha. Tiao, once the highest man in Savlei, went to Malhaha and returned with the title Irava for Savlei. He brought with him Fonmanu who went to Feavai to live. The title of Irava became the highest for this part of the district, and taking it, it made Savlei strong allies with Malha'a district. Riamkau was the Tiau who went to Malhaha. He had a son, Kafonika, who had a son, Toragtuka, who had a son, Irava, who holds title today. The holder of title Tiau ruled with Kormoana formerly, but the name has been dropped "because it sounds funny. " Irava is the title of faufisi of Itu'ti'u, and the family lives in Savlei. Fatafonu married Riug, daughter of Vainuku of Ropouri, Kona'u their eldest son. Fatafonu then married Riamkau of Savlei, a member of the chiefly Savlei title. They had a son, who succeeded to the title of Konau when his half-brother died in Fiji. This second Konau had two sons, the eldest was Konau and died, and the second succeeded him and is living today. There were other children of which Terani the informant is one. This title of Konau is a recent one as pure of Savlei. Formerly it was Karmoana. Fatafonu married Riamkau as his second wife and she was of the Karmoana line, bringing the title with her. Konau was substituted as the chiefly title for Karmoan, though that title exists today as one of the lesser titles in Savlei. (It appears that Konau was an old title brought to the top by combining it with the family of Karmoana) |
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(8) | Topic: | Chiefly titles | Consultant: | ||
Tuirotuma living in Savlei today is the son of the last sau, Suakmasta. Both men came from ho'ag Toga, where Tuirotuma is still the family title. This came originally from Riroa, but they moved to Toga in the time of Fonman. The sister of Tuirotuma is the mother of Tu'a, a chief of Malhaha. |
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(9) | Topic: | Chiefly titles | Consultant: | Marekava | |
Formerly the four high chiefs of Itu'ti'u were Tangata Iroa, Tukagsau, Fimaaitu, Reausa. These were the chiefs of Motusa which formerly ran from Gasava to Upu. The chiefs Veu and Tokroa came from Noa'tau to Motusa in a canoe, and stayed in Motusa. The titles of these men still remain in Itu'ti'u today. The present chiefs have come up from the lower chiefly ranks and pushed aside those men with much higher titles. |
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Category: | Itu'ti'u(10) | Topic: | Savlei titles | Consultant: | ||
Raufoniak was the son of th Tiao of Savlei, a chief and elder brother of Karmoana. Konau outranked these as fa 'es ho'aga and a title derived from Motusa ho'aga. Savlei was divided into two parts by a path over which the present road is built. The sea side was ruled by Tiao and later his son Kaufoniak. The bush side of the village was under Karmoana. There are no other titles than these in Savlei. Not all people were related to this family. Others in ho'aga who were servants and laborers, and who were called fa 'es eag or men who are sent. |
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