Taga is the most celebrated legendary chief of the Northern Mariana Islands. In the tale as told on Guam and Tinian he was born a giant at Litekyan (Ritidian) on Guam's northern tip, son of the village chief — a father whom the linked Puntan Påtgon legend names Masåla. After clashing with his father (in one telling losing a challenge fight, in another fleeing his father's jealous rage by leaping across the sea), the boy settled on Luta (Rota), where he defeated the resident chief in contests and began quarrying at As Nieves the largest latte shafts ever attempted, which still lie unfinished in the rock. Moving on to Tinian, he became its chief and raised the House of Taga (Guma' Taga), the tallest latte structure ever built, with stones about fifteen feet high; members of George Anson's expedition sketched all twelve pillars standing in 1742, and Alexander Spoehr excavated the site in the twentieth century. Tellings of his end differ: the pillars of his house are said to have fallen one by one as members of his family died, and the spirit of his daughter is said to remain in the single pillar still standing.