tupu

Updated: May 25, 2025

The chief quoted the death-sentence upon his race pronounced by the Tahitian prophets centuries ago: "E tupu te fau, et toro te farero, e mou te taata!" "The hibiscus shall grow, the coral spread, and man shall cease!" "There were, according to Captain Cook, sixty or seventy thousand Tahitians on this island when the whites came," continued the chief, sadly.

Frederick O'Brien - Mystic Isles of the South Seas.

E tupu te fau; e toro to farero, e mou te taata. The hibiscus shall grow, the coral shall spread, and man shall cease. There is sleep on your eyelids, and the mats are ready."

Frederick O'Brien - White Shadows in the South Seas

Election to one of the five names is significant; it brings not only dignity but power, and the holder is secure, from that moment, of a certain following in war. But I cannot find that the further step of election to the kingship implies anything worth mention. The successful candidate is now the Tupu o Samoa much good may it do him!

Robert Louis Stevenson - The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition, Vol. 17

Their measures of length are the nela or palm, the duche or foot, namun the pace, the can the ell, and tupu the league, which answers to the marine league or the pharasang of the Persians: But they estimate long distances by mornings, corresponding to our days journeys. The liquid measures are the guampar, about a quart; can about a pint; and the mencu, which is still smaller.

Robert Kerr - A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels - Volume 05 : Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the : Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea : and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time

Election to one of the five names is significant; it brings not only dignity but power, and the holder is secure, from that moment, of a certain following in war. But I cannot find that the further step of election to the kingship implies anything worth mention. The successful candidate is now the Tupu o Samoa much good may it do him!

Robert Louis Stevenson - A Footnote to History : Eight Years of Trouble in Samoa

We would attend the fa'a-Rua, which we now call the ha'a-Piti, the wind that blows both ways, for we waited for the northeast or southwest trade-winds according to the direction we made for." The chief lifted his glass of wine, and chanted: "Aue mouna, mouna o Havaii! Havaii tupu ai te ahi veavea!" "Hail! mighty mountains, mountains of Havaii! Havaii where the red, flaming fire shoots up high!"

Frederick O'Brien - Mystic Isles of the South Seas.