POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
481 
the chief has found destitute in the morning, has been 
known to cut down a tall cocoa-nut tree, finish his lance 
or his spear, and join the warriors at the close of the same 
day. The chief of each district led his own tenantry to 
the war—reported, on his arrival, the number of men he 
had brought^—and then formed his huhapa^ or encamp¬ 
ment, with the rest of the forces. 
A number of ceremonies still remained to be observed. 
The priests were important personages in every expedi¬ 
tion, their influence with the gods was considered the 
means of victory, and they received a proportionate share 
of consideration. The first service of this kind was called 
the taamic raa ra —the binding of the sacredness or super¬ 
natural influence 5 and while the chiefs and warriors had 
been employed in the preliminaries of war, the priests 
had been unremitting in their prayers that the ra atua^ 
&c. the influence of the gods, &c. might be turned against 
their enemies, or that the gods would leave them de¬ 
fenceless. When their prayers were successful, it was 
supposed that the gods of their enemies left them, and 
came to the party by whom they were thus implored, and, 
entering the canoes, clubs, spears, and other weapons of 
their army, insured its triumph. As a compensation for 
this important service, the chiefs assembled; a quantity 
of cloth, mats, and perhaps a canoe, was spread before 
them, surmounted by a branch of the sacred miro, and a 
few red feathers, emblematical of the tutelar gods. The 
priests were then sent for, and the whole presented from 
the heads of the army by an orator, the burden of 
whose address was—This is the recompense for your 
fatigue in imploring the aid of the gods by night 
and by day.'’ 
A second ceremony followed, called fairaro: a large 
n. 3 Q 
