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Power and Taboo: sacred objects from the Pacific
Mouina, Chief Warrior of the Tayehs, engraving by W. Strickland, after Captain David Porter
The islands of the eastern Pacific were organised in hierarchical societies. At the top were chiefs who inherited their power directly from the gods. Next were warriors, priests, craftsmen, commoners and slaves, each of whom had particular privileges and responsibilities.
This portrait shows Mouina, an early nineteenth-century warrior from the Marquesas Islands. His status as a toa, or respected warrior, can be identified from the way he looks and how he is dressed.
His body is completely tattooed and around his wrists and ankles he is wearing ornaments made out of human hair, which possibly came from enemies he had killed. He is also holding a club known as an 'u'u.
The portrait is one of several drawn by Captain David Porter of the US Navy who arrived in the Marquesas Islands in 1813. Porter clashed with Mouina when the warrior refused to supply him with the pork and fruit he wanted. According to Porter's journal, Mouina demanded war, arriving in the US settlement and publicly accusing him of being a 'great coward'.
Nonetheless, Porter's dashing portrait suggests he much admired Mouina.