POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
487 
and the augmented fame they should acquire by the 
addition of their present foes to the number of those 
they had already slain | in conclusion, inviting them to 
advance, that they might be devoted to their god, who 
was hovering by to receive the sacrifice. With taunting 
scorn the antagonist would reply much in the same strain, 
sometimes mingling affected pity with his denunciations. 
When they had finished their harangue, the omoreaa^ 
club of insult, or insulting spear, was raised, and the 
onset commenced. Sometimes it was a single combat, 
fought in the space between two armies, and in sight of 
both. 
At other times, several men engaged on both sides, 
when those not engaged, though fully armed and equipped, 
kept their seat on the ground. If a single combat, when 
one was disabled or slain, the victor would challenge 
another I and seldom thought of retreating, so long as 
one remained. When a number were engaged, and one 
fell, a warrior from his own party rose, and maintained 
the struggle | when either party retreated, the ranks of 
the army to which it belonged rushed forward to sustain 
it I this brought the opposing army on, and from a single 
combat or a skirmish, it became a general engagement. 
The conflict was carried on with the most savage fury, 
such as barbarous warriors might be expected to 
evince—who imagined the gods, on whom their destinies 
depended, had actually entered into their weapons, giving 
precision and force to their blows, direction to their 
missiles, and imparting to the whole a supernatural 
fatality. 
The din and clamour of the deadly fury were greatly 
augmented by the efforts of the Rauti. These were the 
orators of battle. They were usually men of command- 
