The Manahune of Society Islands & Tahiti - Original Inhabitants

The Manahune were the lowest of the three social classes into which the Tahitian society was dividided into. They are also found in the Cook and Tuamotu Archipelagoes. The Manahune were the equivalent of Medieval Europe's serfs or villeins. They were treated with contempt by the upper classes.

In Katharine Luomala's work, The Menehune of Polynesia and other mythical little people of Oceania (see p. 52) there is an excellent description of these people, and also, of course, the Hawaiian Menehune people.

However, the Menehune of Hawaii are "mythical" creatures (the myth may reflect the ancient memory about a pre-Polynesian original people who lived in those islands), but the Manahune of Tahiti were real, and were described by the first Europeans who visited these islands in the 18th-century.

Menehune and Manahune. The meaning

Their name comes from two words: "Mana" is the power of the forces of nature, embodied in a person or an object while "Hune" means small. These people lacked mana, an indication of their servile condition. Priests, gods, leaders, on the other hand, had plenty of Mana, and gained more during their life if they acted correctly. Gods could remove mana if they were displeased with a person.

Abraham Fornander in 1878 explained the name "Menehune" as follows: "I am inclined to consider the Menehune of the legend as a personification of the people of Mene for such is the literal signification of the word and then Mene alone in reality the national appellation which still lingers in Hawaiian legends and Tahitian usage Our knowledge of the legendary lore of the pre Malay Polynesian relations in the Asiatic Archipel is too limited to enable us to say if any trace or remembrance there exists of either Take or Mene as national appellations."

In other words, "Mene" was the place that was the homeland of these people, but we don't know where it was located. In my opinion, it is likely that the particle "Mene" became deformed into "Mana" in Tahiti, losing its original meaning and becoming a derogatory term for the lower classes.

Edward Joesting (1988) suggests that the Tahitians gave themselves the name Manahune but when they were conquered by the warriors from Raiatea, the word lost its honorable connotations and became a term of derision, then, when the Tahitians settled in Hawaii, they did the same, calling the original inhabitants "Menehune".

Fornander added that "Take" was the original homeland that the people who lived in the Marquesas Islands (see map) remembered in their myths, and that the Hawaiians had a similar myth with different names, using "Mene" instead of "Take".

In another book, edited by Fornander and Thrum ( Fornander collection of Hawaiian antiquities and folk-lore, Volume 3, 1917. See p. 234) the same theme is repeated and expanded:

"In the meles and legends collated and preserved by Mr. Lawson, a resident of Hiwaoa, Marquesan Islands... mention is made of a number of lands or islands, on which they successively stopped in their migration, ere they finally reached the Marquesan Islands, or, as they are called by them, the Ao-maama. According to these, the Marquesans started from a land called Take-hee-hee, far away to the westward from the group they now occupy; and the name by which they call themselves is “te Take.” There are two accounts of their wanderings after being driven out of Take-hee-hee. One mentions thirteen places of stoppage before they arrived at Ao-maama, the present Marquesan Islands; the other account mentions seventeen places before their final settlement on the last-mentioned group. During all these migrations the Take, or Marquesan people represent themselves as coming from below (mei-iao) and going up (una). Throughout the Polynesian groups, however, within the tropics, when a land is spoken of as iao, ilalo, iraro of the speaker’s place, it invariably means to the leeward, before the prevailing trade-wind. This being from northeast or southeast, these migrations pursued a course from west to east, and thus corroborate the Polynesian descent from Asia or the Asiatic Archipelago."

Two Races

S. Percy Smith (1897) wrote the following:

"... from Maori and Rarotonga accounts they [the Manahune] appear rather to have been an alien race. The vague notions the Polynesians generally have in regard to the Manahune their living in the mountains and forests the wonderful powers of sorcery &c accredited to them seems to point to their having been a race living in the remote past conquered by the Polynesians and probably often enslaved by them..."

As the Manahune had a different physical appearance, compared to their rulers, the Europeans wondered if the upper and lower classes belonged to different races. Below are two examples of the impression they caused:

De Bougainville wrote (Voyage round the World, 1766-1769, p. 249) about these "two races" as follows

"There are two races of men in the isle.
The inhabitants of Taiti consist of two races of men, very different from each other, but speaking the same language, having the same customs, and seemingly mixing without distinction. The first, which is the most numerous one, produces men of the greatest size; it is very common to see them measure six (Paris) feet and upwards in height. I never saw men better made, and whose limbs were more proportionate: in order to paint a Hercules or a Mars, one could no where find such beautiful models. Nothing distinguishes their features from those of the Europeans: and if they were cloathed; if they lived less in the open air, and were less exposed to the sun at noon, they would be as white as ourselves: their hair in general is black.
The second race are of a middle size, have frizzled hair as hard as bristles, and both in colour and features they differ but little from mulattoes."

The striking part is the "frizzled hair" which hints at a Melanesian genetic input.

Louis Antoine, Count of Bougainville (1729-1811) arrived at the Ile des Lancies (French Polynesia) in 1768. Source

Capt. Cook's Journal (1769) on p. 92 describes the people of Tahiti:

"With respect to their persons the Men in general are tall, strong-limb'd, and well shaped. The superior women are in every respect as large as Europeans, but the inferior sort are in General small, owing possibly to their early Amours, which they are more addicted to than their superiors. They are of various Colours: those of the inferior sort, who are obliged to be much exposed to the Sun and air, are of a very Dark brown; the superiors again, who spend most of their Time in their Houses under Shelter, are not browner than people who are born or reside longer in the West Indies; nay, some of the Women are almost as fair as Europeans. Their hair is almost universally black, thick, and Strong; this the Women wear short Cropt Round their Ears. The Men, on the other hand, wear it different ways: the better sort let it grow long, and sometimes tying it up on the Top of their Heads, or letting it hang loose over their Shoulders; but many of the inferiors, and such who, in the exercise of their professions, fishing, etc., are obliged to be much upon or in the Water, wear it cropt short like the women. They always pluck out a part of their beards, and keep what remains neat and Clean. Both Sexes eradicate every hair from under their Armpits, and look upon it as a mark of uncleanliness in us that we do not do the Same."

Cook noted three social classes: "there are 3 Ranks of Men & Women first the Eares or Chiefs second the Manahoona's or Middling sort & lastly the Toutou's which Comprehend all the lower Class & are by far the most numerous these seem to live in some sort dependant on the Eares who together with the Manahoona's own most if not all of the lands..." The "tou tou" seem to be the lowest class but, the "Manahoona" sounds a lot like "Manahune". Probably Cook didn't quite understand the social structure in Tahiti. "Teu Teus" were servants who were attendants on the local chiefs (Source).

However, other authors have suggested that the differences between both groups were due to external factors such as diet (better for the upper clases, poor for the serfs), intermarriage within classes that confined and enhanced certain traits within them, and labor (exposure to sunlight, and heavy work). All of these factors are said to have led to these physical differences between aristocracy and commoners.

Nevertheless, scholars like the French ethnologist Jean Poirier (see his full comment about Luomala's book - in French) disagree: "...moreover, we do not believe that in ancient Tahiti, the living conditions of the lower classes were such as to modify stature hereditarily." Adding that within the "menehune-manahune-manahua “cycle”: the aberrant nature of certain details, such as the fact that the Manahua of New Zealand are generally described as having blond or red hair, is too often overlooked." Citing this as something that has to be studied (We already suggested the fair-hair genetic mutation found in Melanesians as an explanation for the blond or red hair found in the New Zealand dwarf-Firsts People myths.)

Poirier wonders if the Hawaiian Menehune have a different origin: "Could this small, Negroid-looking people be the mythical embodiment of real tribes, such as the Negrito of the Philippines? The Philippine archipelago, in our view, should most likely be considered the center of dispersal for the Polynesians, their starting point for their Oceanic expansion." adding that their Tahitian counterparts are essentially different. This suggestion that the Philippines is "Mene", the homeland (or probably some island east of the Philippines like Yap, Palau, or Ponape) is interesting!

Emory¹ proposed that the Menehune of Hawaii, and the Manahune of Tahiti were the original inhabitants of those islands.

In the Hawaiian islands, they had lived in the uninhabited (and in part, unknown to the Hawaiians) islands of Necker and Nihoa. In Tahiti, they constituted the aboriginal population that arrived there from Malaysia via Melanesia. Interestingly, Emory notes that the temples or heiau of Necker-Nihoa and the interior of Tahiti are similar. Noting that these aboriginals tended to live inland, unlike the later wave of Polynesians who stayed close to the coast).

Closing Comments

I have noticed a shift in the focus given by contemporary archaeologists and those of the late 1800s, and early 1900s. The first anthropologists compiled the ancient myths firsthand, from the elders living in the islands, and tried to make sense of them. Now the notion of a pre-Polynesian aboriginal population is frowned upon, it seems as if the Polynesian people moved into a void, empty of previous human presence. They are considered as the true "first", "original" people. This stance is in line with the current ideologies, and does not dare to defy the position of the first people (Maoris) of New Zealand or Polynesians. However, the stories about dwarves in Moorea, Tahiti, the Marianas, and New Zealand, and as we will see in the next post, the Chokalai of Ponape, make me wonder if the modern Polynesians really were the first people to reach these islands.

Further Reading & Sources

[1] Emory, Kenneth P. (1928). Archaeology of Nihoa and Necker Islands. Bernice P. Bishop Museum Bulletin #53; Honolulu: The Museum. (↺)

Cleghorn, Paul. (1988). The Settlement and abandonment of two Hawaiian outposts. Bishop Museum. #28.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025by Austin Whittall © 

Society Islands (Tahiti, Moorea) and the fair-dwarfish pre-Polynesians

The French Polynesia includes many groups of islands, one of the best known is the Society Islands archipelago, which includes Tahiti, Moorea, Bora Bora, Taha'a, Huahine and Ra'iatea, and some more smaller ones (see Google map). Their Polynesian name is Tōtaiete mā

Since my childhood I dreamed about visiting Polynesia, Capt. Troy with his sailing boat in "Adventures in Paradise" showed me the wonders of that region. Later Marlon Brando and Trevor Howard with the "Mutiny on the Bounty" gave me a Technicolor view of Tahiti. Luckily, my wife and I had the chance to visit these islands in 2017, and really enjoyed the experience!

Two views of Taha'a (top) an Huahine (bottom). Copyright © 2025 by Austin Whittall

Were these islands uninhabited?

The current chronology for the peopling of these islands, according to a genetics paper published in 2022 is the following: "Settlers also fanned out from Rarotonga northeast to the Society Islands (represented by Tahiti in our dataset but also containing the culturally significant island Raʻiātea) around 1050 CE, thence northeast to the Tuamotu Archipelago (represented by Mataiva in the Palliser group in our dataset) by 1110 CE." There is no formal records of any previous inhabitants. However, during the late 1800s, the missionaries who lived in the region collected ancient tales and myths about the original "first people" in these islands.

An article published in The Polynesian Society in 1895 included an interesting description of little people in Tahiti by the Rev. John B. Stair, describing the "early Samoan Voyages and Settlement". Under the heading (10. The Sixth Voyage Tangiia to Tahiti Eastward - Discovery of Dwarfs or Pigmies [sic] at Tahiti) says the following:

"In the narrative of this voyage we have a remarkable discovery of pigmies at Tahiti by Tangiia and subdued by him and ruled over by him or his adopted son. They were found at a place called Puna auia and are described as of four classes or tribes called O le Neke O le Mana une O le Kai lila and O le Avakevake They were very ugly and very short
... Dr Pickering makes mention of the wild people who used to inhabit Tahiti as being described to him as those who were accustomed to go all over the mountains by tracks and pathways which were utterly unknown to natives of that day.
... interesting relics of the distant past. Commenting upon the description of these pigmies (sic), S. Percy Smith says 'Probably they are the same as in the Hawaiian stories of the Menehune people said to have been pigmies and the first inhabitants of Hawaii. They are known to the Maoris as a people of Hawaiki under the name of Manahune' which is precisely the name as given in the records as the name of the third of the four classes of little people conquered by Tangiia who are called Manaune; an interesting fact, as showing how much the back history of the different islands is interwoven."

I will look into the Manahune in my next post.

Stair mentions another interpretation given to these ugly people: "it is thought the account must refer to some monkeys that had been seen by Iro [also called Whiro] on some distant land which he is assumed to have visited." which he dismisses stating that it was Tangiia and not Iro who discovered and subjected them to his authority. They were people, not monkeys.

The map above shows the current global range of primates, if someone in Tahiti had to travel to see monkeys, they'd have to head east to the coast of South or Central America, across the Pacific, or west to Sulawesi, Borneo, or the Philippines, and the latter is what some authors have suggested, as we will see below.

Primitive People who had not yet mastered the art of making fire

The story of Whiro - Iro (a Maori god and navigator) and the monkeys, mentioned above, according to J. M. Orsmond, commented by S. Percy Smith, is the following: "The description of the people called Te aitanga a nuku mai tore who lived in trees in the wharawhara plants and amongst the kiekie, and who had small heads, large chests and waists, and who the story says 'were not human beings' seems to be some indistinct recollection of monkeys, the more so as these 'people' were not acquainted with fire. Knowing traditionally Whiro's powers as a navigator it is not improbable that he visited the East Indian Archipelago and brought back stories of monkeys who in process of time have acquired the name given above."

Interestingly, there were tales about the natives of the Mariana Islands, stating that the natives didn't know about fire either! This was first noted by French historian Charles Le Gobien in his Histoire des Isles Mariannes (p. 44), published in 1700 where he states that: "What is even more astonishing, and what will be hard to believe, is that they had never seen fire. This essential element was entirely unknown to them. They knew neither the use nor the qualities, and but they very surprised when they saw it for the first time when Magellan descended upon one of their islands and burned about fifty houses to punish them."

The Chamorro made pottery, so surely they knew how to light fires. However, this story probably reflects some ancient myth of the locals, probably regarding a hominin (like the Flores Island Hobbit, or the Fuegian Yosi) that had not yet learned to manage fire.

French philosopher Voltaire repeated this unusual fact in his Essay on the Manners and Spirit of Nations (Chapter CXLIX): "These Mariana Islands, located near the line, deserve special attention. The inhabitants did not know fire, and it was absolutely useless to them. They fed themselves on the fruits that their lands produce in abundance, especially coconut, sago (the pith of a type of palm tree that is far superior to rice), and rima (the fruit of a large tree called the breadfruit tree, because its fruit can be used as a substitute for rice)."

The Mu

Another group of small people who didnt master fire were the mysterious Mu people of Hawaii (see p. 25 in Luomala, Katharine, The Menehune of Polynesia And Other Mythical Little People of Oceania, 1951) quoted below. The Mu are sometimes mistaken for the Menehune. But they are different types of dwarves. The Mu are "brown, diminutive (about the same height of the Menehune), stocky and active. Their heads are shaggy and their beards and eyebrows bushy. Their speech -full of strange, uncanny grunts and cries- differs from the Hawaiian. The people are wild, easily frightened... They lack fire."

The Mu are not related in any way to the pseudo-scientific lost continent of Mu in the Pacific, a counterpart of Atlantis in the Atlantic. Mu was "invented" before plate tectonics, and attempted to explain the Polynesian myths and the dispersion of mammals and marsupials, and similar species found in South America and the Western Pacific. So the explanation that was concocted was a continent that vanished under the seas and only small fragments (the islands) survived.

The Fair Fairies of Moorea

There is also another myth, probably linked to the Urukehu and the Patupaiarehe of New Zealand, fair, fairy-like people. According to Frederick William Christian (1910), in his work Eastern Pacific Lands; Tahiti and the Marquesas Islands, p. 45, there were blond creatures on Moorea:

"On a placid Sabbath morning we sight Moorea, the island of fairy folk with golden hair.¹
[1] Cf. Paumotan mokorea, a fairy woman with red-gold tresses, a mermaid. Niué, moka, blonde, auburn-haired."

The footnote [1] says "Cf." which comes from the Latin word confer, and means "compare"; and then it gives the word mokorea, used by the people of Paumotan (Tuamotu) and the other word "moka" is used by those of Niué Island which have a similar meaning "golden fair hair".

Moorea is an jungle-covered island that is just 16 km (10 mi.) west of Tahiti, with an extinct volcano, Mount Tohivea standing like a pinnacle over it (height: 1,207 m - 3,960 ft), it has a steep relief, and two large inlets. It is surrounded by an atoll. I have not been able to find any other references to fair haired fairies. Instead, I came across several texts about the Tahitian and Society Islands Manahune people. These have a similar name to Hawaii's Menehune, but were real people. I will write about them in my next post.

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Patagonian Monsters - Cryptozoology, Myths & legends in Patagonia Copyright 2009-2025 by Austin Whittall ©