496 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
were destroyed, because they would, if spared, be com¬ 
paratively useless in war. War therefore, being 
esteemed by the majority as the most important end 
of life, every kind of training for battle was held in the 
highest repute. 
In times of war, all capable of bearing arms, were called 
upon to join the forces of the chieftain to whom they be¬ 
longed, and the farmers, who held their land partly by feudal 
tenure, were obliged to render military service whenever 
their landlord required it. There were, besides these, a 
number of men celebrated for their valour, strength, or 
address in war, who were called aitOy fighting-men or 
warriors. This title was the result of achievements in 
battle 3 it was highly respected, and proportionably sought 
by the courageous and ambitious. It was not, like the 
chieftainship and other prevailing distinctions, confined 
to any class, but open to all; and many from the lower 
ranks have risen, as warriors, to a high station in the 
community. 
Originally their weapons were simple, and formed 
of wood; they consisted of the spear, which the natives 
called or tao^ made with the wood of the cocoa-nut 
tree, or of the aito^ iron-wood, or casuarina. It was twelve 
or eighteen feet long, and about an inch or an inch and a 
half in diameter at the middle or the lower end, but 
tapering off to a point at the other. The spears of the 
inhabitants of Rurutu, and other of the Austral Islands, 
are remarkable for their great length, and elegant shape, 
as well as for the high polish with which they are 
finished. 
The omore^ or club, was another weapon used by them; 
it was always made of the aito, or iron-wood, and was 
principally of two kinds, either short and heavy like a 
