142 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
excelled in parrying the thrusts of their enemies’ spears. 
—The warriors seldom went to battle with any other 
dress than a maro or narrow girdle round their loins. 
Some, however, wore a quantity of cloth bound round 
their head, which was called ahupoonui, and the chiefs 
were frequently dressed in their war-cloaks and helmets. 
The cloaks, though they gave the wearers an imposing 
appearance, must have proved an incumbrance, without 
affording much protection. Some of the helmets were 
made of close wicker-work, exactly fitted the head, and 
were ornamented along the crown. But those worn by 
the high chiefs only, and called mahiori , though not 
more useful, were peculiarly beautiful. They were 
made in the form of the Grecian helmet, with towering 
crest, and were thickly covered with the glossy red 
and yellow feathers of a small paroquet found in the 
mountains, (with whose feathers the war-cloaks are 
also ornamented,) and though they did not appear 
adapted to defend the head, any more than the cloaks 
were to guard the body, they increased the effect of the 
towering height and martial air of the chiefs, whose 
stature was generally above that of the common people. 
The long cloaks reaching to the knees, or even to the 
ancles, were worn only by the king and principal chiefs. 
The royal colour was yellow, and no one besides the 
king was allowed to wear a cloak made entirely of 
yellow feathers. Those of the other chiefs were of red 
and yellow rhomboidal figures intermingled or disposed 
in alternate lines, with sometimes a section of dark 
purple or glossy black. Tippets were manufactured 
of the same materials, and worn by the inferior chiefs, 
or some of the principal warriors, whose rank did not 
entitle them to wear the cloak. 
