CHAPTERXV-THETWOCHIEFSOFATUONA

　　IThadchancedastheCASCObeatthroughtheBordelaisStraitsforTaahaukusheapproachedononeboardverynearthelandintheoppositeisleofTauata，wherehousesweretobeseeninagroveoftallcoco-palms。BrotherMichelpointedoutthespot。’Iamathomenow，’saidhe。’IbelieveIhavealargeshareinthesecocoa-nuts；andinthathousemadamemymotherliveswithhertwohusbands！’’Withtwohusbands?’somebodyinquired。’C’ESTMA

　　HONTE，’repliedthebrotherdrily。

　　Awordinpassingonthetwohusbands。Iconceivethebrothertohaveexpressedhimselfloosely。Itseemscommonenoughtofindanativeladywithtwoconsorts；butthesearenottwohusbands。Thefirstisstillthehusband；thewifecontinuestobereferredtobyhisname；andthepositionofthecoadjutor，orPIKIO，althoughquiteregular，appearsundoubtedlysubordinate。Wehadopportunitiestoobserveonehouseholdofthesort。ThePIKIOwasrecognised；appearedopenlyalongwiththehusbandwhentheladywasthoughttobeinsulted，andthepairmadecommoncauselikebrothers。Athometheinequalitywasmoreapparent。Thehusbandsattoreceiveandentertainvisitors；thePIKIOwasrunningthewhiletofetchcocoa-nutslikeahiredservant，andIremarkedhewassentontheseerrandsinpreferenceeventotheson。Plainlywehaveherenosecondhusband；plainlywehavethetoleratedlover。Only，intheMarquesas，insteadofcarryinghislady’sfanandmantle，hemustturnhishandtodothehusband’shousework。

　　ThesightofBrotherMichel’sfamilyestateledtheconversationforsomewhileuponthemethodandconsequenceofartificialkinship。Ourcuriositybecameextremelywhetted；thebrotherofferedtohavethewholeofusadopted，andsometwodayslaterwebecameaccordinglythechildrenofPaaaeua，appointedchiefofAtuona。Iwasunabletobepresentattheceremony，whichwasprimitivelysimple。ThetwoMrs。StevensonsandMr。Osbourne，alongwithPaaaeua，hiswife，andanadoptedchildoftheirs，sonofashipwreckedAustrian，satdowntoanexcellentislandmeal，ofwhichtheprincipalandtheonlynecessarydishwaspig。A

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