3(52 THE MARAE. 



distinguished from their fellows by their commanding stature, and 

 by being naked except wearing a girdle of Ti- leaves. 



After I had looked for some minutes, and seen one or two single 

 combats, many of these always preceding the general battle, I 

 issued from the cover of the wood, anxious to know what had caused 

 the outbreak, and to ascertain whether a reconciliation might not be 

 effected. I was well aware of the savage and sanguinary character 

 of these apparently peaceable and inoffensive people ; and though 

 the day had long passed in which they considered Europeans as 

 beings of a superior order, still a white man had weight with them, 

 and I knew of no reason which should make me obnoxious to either 

 party. 



I approached within forty paces of a group of warriors without 

 being noticed; so busily were they occupied in invoking curses upon 

 another party directly fronting them. I selected this group because 

 I recognised Tomati in the centre, to whom 1 was well known, and 

 who had counted himself my particular friend, for which indeed I 

 had given him very substantial reasons : no sooner was I perceived, 

 however, than he uttered a loud cry, and, running at me like a 

 madman, endeavoured to transfix me with his spear. Surprise and 

 resentment, fora second, chained my feet, whilst 1 called out I was a 

 friend; I sprang aside as he rushed on, and, seizing his spear, strove 

 to wrest it from him, as I was unarmed : he was, however, a far more 

 powerful man than myself, and t should have been quickly de- 

 spatched, had not Anato, another chief, with a small band, hastened 

 from the other side and rescued me. This led to a desperate and san- 

 guinary struggle, in which self-preservation compelled me to take an 

 active part ; weapons were soon sufficiently plentiful, as many fell : it 

 was a bloody and terrific conflict, man to man, or mass against mass, 

 without a thought of quarter : the battle became general ; shrieks 

 and shouts rent the air, and the multitude swayed and eddied, as 

 different parties fled or died. As soon as I could possibly extricate 

 myself from the melee, I drew off and confined myself to mere 

 defensive measures. I looked round on the crowd of fierce men thus 

 savagely butchering each other, whilst the women, animated to fury, 

 hovered upon the skirts of the combatants, screaming, yelling, and 

 mutilating the wounded or dying warriors with the most savage 

 cruelty. This was the most disgusting part of the picture, as the 

 battle-field itself carried one back some centuries, and, spite of its 

 repulsive features, the awakened spirit sympathised and hungered 

 eagerly to participate in its carnage. 



I had taken up a position within a few paces of one of the Ranti, 

 or orators : with a bunch of Ti-leaves in one hand, and a sharpened 

 weapon in the other, and with impassioned gesture, he poured out a 

 stream of eloquent exhortation, the imagery of which was sublime, 

 and strongly reminded me, spite of my dangerous situation, of the 

 battle-songs of the old north-men. Jt is impossible to translate so 

 as to convey even a faint impression of the sublimity, and of the 

 energetic expression of the original, which came directly from a 

 mind heated and roused by the sight of a furious conflict: sometimes 

 his appeals wer general ; at other times he singled out particular 



