Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 2 (Stockdale).djvu/210

172 him, and Futtafaihe; and two daughters, the one named Tiné, the other Nanatchi. When Poulaho died, he left a son very young, named Futtafaihe, whose uncle then took into his hands the reins of government: but he did not long survive his brother, and then the sovereignty devolved upon Tiné, the elder sister. She held all the honours of it, without exercising the authority, however; with which it appears a female cannot be invested: the power, therefore, passed into the hand of a chief named Toobou, brother to Tiné's mother. This queen had married Ovea, one of the chiefs of Tofoa; and he had divorced her, after having had two sons by her, Veaïcou, and Veatchi.

Thus it appears, that the succession to the throne devolves first on the brothers, then on the sisters, of the prince who has reigned, before it comes to his sons; and when a woman succeeds to the royal title, the sovereign authority is exercised by one of her mother's nearest relations, though only during the life of the queen. The family of Toobou will retain the power during the reign of Tiné; and Futtafaihe, the son of Poulaho, will not ascend the throne, till after the death of both his aunts. The royal family, at this time divested of the sovereign power, nevertheless enjoyed the regal honours, and even received the homage of those, by whom the autho-