THROUGH HAWAII, 
141 
tary talents and address, has been raised to the supreme 
command. When they fought in a defile, or narrow 
pass, they advanced in a single column. The first 
division, or advanced guard, was called the verau , or 
point, the name they also give to a bayonet. The 
other parts of the column were called by different 
names; the pohivi , or shoulder, was generally consi¬ 
dered the strongest section. The chief who commanded 
was in the centre. 
Their weapons consisted of the pololu , a spear made 
of hard wood, from sixteen to twenty feet long, and 
pointed at one end. The ihe , or javelin, about six feet 
in length, made of a species of hard red wood, resem¬ 
bling mahogany, called kauira , pointed and barbed. 
The raau parau , a weapon eight or nine feet long, 
between a club and spear, somewhat resembling a hal¬ 
bert, with which they were accustomed to thrust or 
strike, and the pahoa, or dagger, eighteen inches or two 
feet in length, made of the hard wood, sometimes pointed 
at both ends, and having a string attached to the 
handle, which passed round the wrist to prevent their 
losing it in action. Besides these, they employed the 
sling, and their stones were very destructive. The 
slings were made of human hair, plaited, or the elastic 
fibres of the cocoa-nut husk; the stones they employed 
were about the size of a hen’s egg, generally ponderous 
pieces of compact lava, from the bed of a stream or 
the sea-beach, where they had been worn smooth by 
the action of the water. 
They had no shields or weapons of defence, except the 
javelin, which they used in warding off those that might 
be thrown at them; they were very expert in avoid¬ 
ing a stone, if they saw it thrown, and the spearmen 
