148 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
tree, and a green branch of the ti plant, was sent with 
proposals for peace. If they were accepted, the preli¬ 
minaries were arranged, and the chiefs and priests of 
both parties met to adjust the particulars. When the 
conditions of peace were agreed to, they all repaired to 
the temple. There a pig was slain, its blood caught in 
a vessel, and afterwards poured on the ground, pro¬ 
bably to signify that thus it should be done to those 
who broke the treaty. A wreath of mairi , a sweet- 
scented plant, was then woven by the leading chiefs of 
both parties, and deposited in the temple. Peace was 
ratified, feasting, dances, and public games followed. 
The warriors returned to their lands, and the king’s 
heralds were sent round his districts to announce ua 
pau ka kaua, ended is the war. 
The introduction of fire-arms, which so soon followed 
the discovery of the Sandwich Islands, increased the 
passion for conquest and plunder in the minds of the 
proud and turbulent chiefs by whom they were go¬ 
verned ; and although the recent introduction and 
partial reception of Christianity has not induced them 
to discontinue the practice of war, it has already 
altered its ferocious and exterminating character, and 
the principles of clemency inculcated in the gospel 
have been most strikingly exemplified in the humane 
conduct of the chiefs by whom it has been embraced.* 
There is every reason to hope that Christianity, when 
more generally received, will subdue their restless and 
ambitious spirits ; and under its influence they may be 
* After a late civil war in Tanai, when the captives were 
brought before Karaimoku, the chief against whom they had 
rebelled, he dismissed many of them with spelling books , and 
directed them to go home, and dwell in peace, cultivate their 
lands, learn to read and write, and worship the true God. 
