 According to local legends, a group of long-eared unknown men referred to as "hanau eepe" had arrived on the island sometime after Polynesians, introducing the stone carving technology and attempting to enslave the local Polynesians.Some early accounts of the legend place "hanau epe" as the original residents and Polynesians as later immigrants coming from Oparo.After mutual suspicions erupted in a violent clash, the "hanau eepe" were overthrown and exterminated, leaving only one survivor.