248 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
offered to the Almighty^ and the service closed. Those 
who were unarmed, now repaired to their tents, and 
procured their weapons. 
In assuming the posture of defence, the king’s 
friends formed themselves into two or three columns, 
one on the sea-heach, and the other at a short distance 
towards the mountains. Attached to Pomare’s camp, 
was a number of refugees, who had, during the late 
commotions in Tahiti, taken shelter under his protec¬ 
tion, but had not embraced Christianity; on these the 
king and his adherents placed no reliance, but stationed 
them in the centre, or the rear, of the column. The 
l^ure Atua requested to form the viri or frontlet, ad¬ 
vanced guard \ and the paparia, or cheek of their forces ; 
while the people of Eimeo, immediately in the rear, 
formed what they called the tapono, or shoulder, of their 
army. In the front of the line, Anna, Upaparu, Hitote^ 
and others equally distinguished for their steady adhe¬ 
rence to the system they had adopted, took their station 
on this occasion, and shewed their readiness to lay 
down their lives rather than relinquish the Christian 
faith, and the privileges it conferred. Mahine, the king of 
Huahine, and Pomare-vahine, the heroic daughter of the 
king of Raiatea, with those of their people who had pro¬ 
fessed Christianity, arranged themselves in battle-array 
immediately behind the people of Eimeo, forming the body 
of the army. Mahine on this occasion wore a curious 
helmet, covered on the outside with plates of the beauti¬ 
fully spotted cowrie, or tiger shell, so abundant in the 
islands; and ornamented with a plume of the tropic, or 
man-of-war bird’s feathers. The queen’s sister, like a 
daughter of Pallas, tall, and rather masculine in her sta¬ 
ture and features, walked and fought by Mahine’s side 5 
