378 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
and then placing the cocoa-nut in the sea, con¬ 
tinuing his prayers, and narrowly watching its 
descent, he thereby pretended to ascertain the 
result of any measures in which those by whom he 
was employed were interested. The patu was 
frequently resorted to while negociations for peace 
were carried on between parties who had been 
engaged in war. The situation of the stars was 
also regarded as foreshewing future events. When 
Venus and any other conspicuous planet appeared 
above the horizon at sunset, for several successive 
nights, it was viewed as an indication that two 
chiefs were planning each others downfall. When 
the horns of the new moon were in an upright 
direction, it was supposed to indicate the secret 
formation of two hostile parties. Such an aspect 
was called an angry or savage moon. If three or 
more spiral clouds were seen in the west about the 
setting of the sun, it indicated division of councils, 
and conflicts. If one conspicuous cloud appeared, 
it foretold the death of some powerful chief. When 
the sky was red over Borabora at sunset, the in¬ 
habitants of Huahine imagined it proceeded from 
preparations for invasion by the Boraborans, and 
they prepared accordingly. Divination was em¬ 
ployed to discover the cause or author of sickness, 
or to ascertain the fate of a fleet or a canoe that 
might have commenced a distant or hazardous 
voyage. This latter was often used in the islands 
to the westward of the Society group. 
The natives had also recourse to several kinds of 
divination, for discovering the perpetrators of acts 
of injury, especially theft. Among these was a 
kind of water ordeal. It resembled in a great 
degree the wai haruru of the Hawaiians. When 
the parties who had been robbed wished to use this 
