POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
241 
A large body of armed and lawless warriors, be¬ 
longing to different and rival chieftains, thus brought 
together under irritated feelings, and perhaps mutually 
accusing each other as the cause of their disappointment, 
were not long without a pretext for commencing the 
work of death among themselves. Ancient animosities, 
restrained only for the purpose of crushing what they 
considered a common enemy, were soon revived, and 
led to an open declaration of war between the tribes 
assembled. The inhabitants of Atehuru and Papara, 
who had been invited by the Porionu to join them in 
destroying the Bure Atua, attacked the Porionu; and, 
in the battle that followed, obtained a complete victory 
over them, killing one of their principal chiefs, and 
obliging the vanquished to seek their safety in flight. 
After this affair, the people of Taiarabu joined the 
victors. The whole island was again involved in war, 
and the conquering party scoured the coast from 
Atehuru to the eastern side of the isthmus, burning 
every house, destroying every plantation, plundering 
every article of property, and reducing the verdant and 
beautiful districts of Pare, Faaa, the romantic valleys 
of Hautaua, Matavai, and Hapaiano, and the whole of 
the north-eastern part of the island, to a state of barren¬ 
ness and desolation. 
Success did not bring peace or rest to the victorious 
party. Proud of their triumph, insolent in crime, and 
impatient of control, the Atehuruans and natives of 
Papara quarrelled with the Taiarabuans, who had joined 
them in destroying the Porionu. A battle followed. 
The natives of Taiarabu were defeated, and fled to their 
fortresses in the mountains of their craggy peninsula, 
leaving the Oropaa masters of the island. 
2 I 
