POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
493 
whose life it was considered their special duty to defend^ 
at the exposure of their own. 
The battle sometimes terminated by both parties 
retreating, to recover, and prepare for a fresh campaign, 
but it was more frequently continued till the flight of one 
party left the other master of the field. 
The carnage and destruction which followed the/a^i 
or breaking, and hea or flying, of one of the armies, was 
dreadful. It was called tahaea^ and in it the gods were 
supposed to engage as well as the men. Those who 
were viy or beaten, fled to their canoes, or to their paris 
or fastnesses in the mountains, while the victors^ who 
were called upoatia^ erect heads, pursued them with 
reckless slaughter. A prostrate warrior, as he lay at the 
feet of his antagonist, wounded or disarmed, would 
perhaps supplicate mercy, exclaiming Tahitia iau ia ora 
wau —Spare me, may I live. If the name of the king or 
chief, of the victor, was invoked, the request was often 
granted; but frequently a reproach or taunt, and a deadly 
blow or thrust, was the only reply. 
Such was the implacable rage with which they carried 
on the work of destruction, that victory on the field did 
not satisfy them; they repaired to the villages and other 
places, where the wives, children, &c. of the vanquished 
had been left for security, and satiated their rage with 
most affrighting cruelty. 
By whatever considerations civilized and enlightened 
nations may be influenced in the practice of war, and 
upon whatever principles they may desire to conduct it, 
war, barbarous, murderous unrelenting war, is the delight 
of savages ; and among no portion of the most cruel and 
warlike of the human race has it perhaps prevailed more 
extensively, or proved a greater scourge, than among the 
