POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
93 
the Missionaries extremely cautious in administering 
medicine to any of the chiefs. Native remedies were 
now applied^ to relieve the sufferings of Oripaia^ but they 
were unavailing, and, after languishing for some time in 
the greatest agony, he expired. The body of the deceased 
chief was embalmed by a process peculiar to the inhabit¬ 
ants of the South Sea Islands. It was placed on a kind of 
platform ; and a number of superstitious ceremonies were 
observed. During the performance of these rites, 
Pomare’s orator, and some of the inhabitants of Matavai, 
used insulting expressions in reference to the corpse; 
which so incensed Otu, that, aided by the chief priest, 
he immediately made war upon the district of Matavai. 
Late in the evening, the Missionaries and people had 
some intimation of his intention : before daylight the next 
morning, the attack was commenced at one end of the 
district; the inhabitants fled before the assailants; and by 
sunrise, the warriors of Otu had scoured the district from 
one end to the other, driving before them every inha¬ 
bitant, excepting a few in the immediate vicinity of the 
Missionary dwellings. Several warriors, with clubs and 
spears, surrounded the Missionary house, but its inmates 
remained unmolested; and in the course of the day, 
Haamanemane arrived, and assured the Mission family 
no evil was designed against them. In the evening 
they were also visited in an amicable manner by Otu 
and his queen. 
In connexion with this attack upon the district of 
Matavai, which belonged to Pomare, Otu and Haamane¬ 
mane declared that Pomare was deprived of all authority 
in the larger peninsula. The districts on the west and 
south side declared for Otu, and those on the western 
were threatened with invasion in the event of refusal. 
