A POLYNESIAN QUEEN WHOSE DREAM CAME TRUE (continued from page 29)

Te Ao Hou, Winter 1954, Page 63

A POLYNESIAN QUEEN WHOSE DREAM CAME TRUE (continued from page 29) but the special honours and prerogatives of the office were transferred to Taufaahau—King George Tubou I. He was a big man, wise and strong. At 95 years of age he was unbowed and vigorous, but an early morning swim in the sea in front of his palace during an attack of influenza was too much even for his Herculean strength, and his death occurred in 1893. His son and grandson died before him, and he was succeeded by his grand-daughter's son, who thus became King George Tubou II—Tubou being the title of the Tui Kanokupolu. Like his great-grandfather he was a tall, well-built man over 6ft tall. He died in 1918 still a comparatively young man, and he was followed on the throne by his daughter Salote, a tall and handsome girl not long returned from her schooling in New Zealand. The year before her accession she married Tungi (Tu'i), head of the house of Takalaua, whose ancestor and mid-fifteenth century Sacred King had made ruler of the land. Tungi, was very strong but he died while seemingly in the prime of mid-life.