WAR IN TAHITI. 
141 
torious party. Proud of their triumph, insolent in 
crime, and impatient of control, the Atehuruans 
and natives of Papara quarrelled with the Taiara- 
buans, who had joined them in destroying the 
Porionu. A battle followed. The natives of Taia- 
rabu were defeated, and fled to their fortresses in 
the mountains of their craggy peninsula, leaving 
the Oropaa masters of the island. 
Numbers of the vanquished fled to Eimeo, where 
they were received by the king, or protected by 
the chiefs, who had taken no part whatever in the 
wars that were now desolating Tahiti, and who de¬ 
termined to observe the strictest neutrality; or, if 
they acted at all, to do so only on the defensive, 
should invasion be attempted. 
Besides the refugees, who in consequence of 
defeat in Tahiti had taken shelter in Eimeo, num¬ 
bers who had secretly embraced Christianity, and 
feared ultimate destruction from the idolaters, 
although religion appeared to have no influence in 
the present commotion, came over to Eimeo, and 
joined the Christians. The aggregate of those 
whose names were written down as such, amounted 
at this period to nearly four hundred, and the 
pupils in the school were between six and seven 
hundred. Want of books alone prevented its being 
considerably enlarged. 
Notwithstanding the Bure Atua had escaped the 
machinations of their enemies, and the murderous 
counsel of the idolaters had issued in their own 
defeat, yet it was impossible, that, amidst the agi¬ 
tation which prevailed in Tahiti, the adjacent 
island of Eimeo should remain free from appre¬ 
hension and disquiet; and although the king had 
sent repeated messages of a peaceable tendency to 
the conquerors, and had received assurances that 
