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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
arrayed in their most splendid garments_, assembled to 
witness the games. These festivals were usually con¬ 
nected with some religious ceremony, or cause of 
national rejoicing. The return of the king from a 
tour, or the arrival of a distinguished visitor, were 
among the most ordinary occasions of these games. 
Wrestling was the favourite, and perhaps most fre¬ 
quent sport; hence the taupiti, or assembly, was often 
called the taupiti maona, assembly for wrestling. A 
large quantity of food was always prepared for these 
occasions, and generally served out to the different 
parties, at the commencement of the festival, where¬ 
by the banquet was concluded before the games 
began. The wrestlers of one district sometimes chal¬ 
lenged those of another, but the trial of strength and 
skill often took place between the inhabitants of 
different islands; the servants of the king of the 
island forming one band, and those in the train of his 
guest the other. 
In this, as in most of their public procedings, the gods 
presided. Before wrestling commenced, each party 
repaired to the marae of the idols of which they 
were the devotees. Here they presented a young 
plantain-tree, which was frequently a substitute for 
a more valuable offering, and having invoked aid of 
the tutelar deity of the game, they repaired to the 
spot where the multitude had assembled. A space 
covered with a grassy turf, or the level sands of the 
sea-beach, was usually selected for these exhibitions. 
Here a ring was formed, perhaps thirty feet in diameter. 
The aufenua, people of the country, being on one side, 
the visitors on the other. The inner rank sat down, 
the others stood behind them; each party had their 
