The Dominicans had had a mission station in the small town of Fu-an, in Fukien province, since 1632.³⁵ ³⁵Fu-an (Fogan, to Spaniards) in Fukien province, then a town of 3 000 inhabitants, six days’ journey north of Fu-chou. The friars’ residence there was named after the Holy Rosary.

Are we not in fact dicivilizing ourselves as we decivilize them? Why is there no outcry? Is it because we have cast off the delusion of human sanctity?

The highlight of such occasions was the cotillion, a gamesy ritual for selecting partners that took its name from a frisky old French folk dance called the cotillon, or petticoat.

I have said that Tautira was a large and powerful chiefery on the eastern side of the peninsula Taiarapu, which was balanced by Teahupoo, another large chiefery at the southern end.