364 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
holding them in agony, as severe as if transfixed 
by a barbed spear or hook. 
Incantations sometimes commenced with an im¬ 
precation or curse, either by the priest or the 
offended party, and it was usually denounced in 
the name of the gods of the party, or of the king, 
or some oramatua. The poor people entertained 
the greatest horror of this mode of vengeance, as 
it was generally considered fatal, unless, by 
engaging a more powerful demon, its effects could 
be counteracted. 
This dreadful system of iniquity, and demon 
tyranny, was complex and intricate. The party 
using sorcery against another, whose destruction 
they designed, employed a tahutahu, or a taata- 
obu-tara, whose influence with the demons procured 
their co-operation, and was supposed to induce 
the tii, or spirit, to enter into the victim of their 
malice. 
Prayers, offerings, and the accustomed mysteries, 
however numerous, were not sufficient for this 
purpose. It was necessary to secure something 
connected with the body of the object of ven¬ 
geance. The parings of the nails, a lock of the 
hair, the saliva from the mouth, or other secretions 
from the body, or else a portion of the food which 
the person was to eat. This was considered as the 
vehicle by which the demon entered the person, 
who afterwards became possessed. It was called 
the tubu , growing, or causing to grow. When 
procured, the tar a was performed; the sorcerer 
took the hair, saliva, or other substance that had 
belonged to his victim, to his house or marae, 
performed his incantations over it, and offered his 
prayers; the demon was then supposed to enter 
the tubu, and through it the individual, who suf- 
