POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
479 
man, and not a god, his head reaches not to the skies. 
Who is Taute ? The king’s spirits and courage never 
revived. 
If it was a naval expedition, canoes were now collected 
and equipped, and the weapons put in order, the spears 
and clubs cleaned with a hoar’s tusk, pointed with bones 
of the sting-ray, and having been carefully polished, the 
handle of every weapon was covered with the resinous 
gum of the bread-fruit, that it might adhere to the war¬ 
rior’s hand, and render his grasp firm. 
When the implements of destruction were ready, and 
this seldom occupied many days, another human sacrifice 
was offered, called the haea mati —the tearing of the 
mati wreath of peace. This was immediately before the 
expedition started; and if accepted, Oro generally in¬ 
spired one of his prophets, who declared that the fleet or 
army should be victorious. On all these occasions, human 
sacrifices, covered with their own blood, were offered to 
Oro, in numbers proportioned to the magnitude of the 
undertaking, or the force of the parties confederated. 
While these ceremonies were proceeding, national 
councils were held. Peace, or war, was usually determined 
by a few leading individuals, including the king, priests, 
and the principal chiefs. The prayers and sacrifices 
offered, oracles consulted, responses received, and coun¬ 
cils held, were only parts of the external machinery by 
which, as it regarded the mass of the population, these 
movements were regulated. This, however, was not 
always the case, and peace or war was often the result 
of the impressions produced by the popular orators on 
the general assemblies. These harangues were specimens 
of the most impassioned natural eloquence, bold and 
varied in its figures, and impressive in its effects. 
