256 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
The party sent by the king to the national temple 
at Tautira, in Taiarabu, proceeded directly to their place 
of destination. It was apprehended that, notwithstand¬ 
ing what had befallen the adherents of idolatry in 
battle, the inhabitants of Taiarabu, who were at that 
time more zealous for the idols than those of any other 
part of the island, who considered it an honour to be 
entrusted with the custody of Oro, and also regarded his 
presence among them as the palladium of their safety, 
might, perhaps, rise en masse, to protect his person from 
insults, and his temple from spoliation. No attempt 
of this kind, however, was made. The soldiers of 
Pomare, soon after reaching the district, proceeded to 
the temple, acquainted the inhabitants of the place and 
keepers of the temple with the events of the war, and 
the purpose of their visit. No remonstrance was made, 
no opposition offered—^they entered the depository of 
Tahiti’s former god; the priests and people stood round 
in silent expectation 5 even the soldiers paused a 
moment, and a scene was exhibited, probably strikingly 
analogous to that which was witnessed in the temple 
of Serapis in Alexandria, when the tutelar deity of that 
city was destroyed by the Roman soldiers. At length they 
brought out the idol, stripped him of his sacred cover¬ 
ings and highly valued ornaments, and threw his body 
contemptuously on the ground. It was a rude, un¬ 
carved log of aito wood, casuarina equisatifolia, about 
six feet long. The altars were then broken down, the 
temples demolished, and the sacred houses of the gods, 
together with their covering, ornaments, and all the 
appendages of their worship, committed to the flames. 
The temples, altars, and idols, all round Tahiti, were 
shortly after destroyed in the same way. The log of 
