"In Easter Island scholarship he is best known by his Christian baptismal name Metoro, presumably French Melchior. His Rapanui name is Tau'a Ure, after the eastern locale just inland from Hanga 'o 'Ao between Hanga Ho'onu and Poike Peninsula.

Metoro might have been named after the place of his erstwhile residence, for he claimed to hail from Mahatua, which is the famous ahu next to Tau'a Ure.

He would, then, have been of the Koro 'o 'Orongo descent group, the same who had witnessed the Spaniards' deed of possession in 1770.

His father was He(i) Tuki, and his rongorongo masters had been Ngā Hua, Rei Miro, and Paoa Vaka.

He had been one of the 241 who had arrived at Tahiti in 1871 to work on the Brander plantation as an indentured labourer."

(Fischer)