140 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, 
lying away what few things they could take, they 
embarked soon after sunset, and reached Eimeo in 
safety on the following morning, grateful for the 
happy and surprising deliverance they had expe¬ 
rienced. The different parties, as they arrived 
towards midnight, learned, with no ordinary 
remorse and disappointment, that their prey had 
been alarmed, and had escaped. 
A large body of armed and lawless warriors, 
belonging to different and rival chieftains, thus 
brought together under irritated feelings, and per¬ 
haps mutually accusing each other as the cause of 
their disappointment, were not long without a 
pretext for commencing the work of death among 
themselves. Ancient animosities, restrained only 
for the purpose of crushing what they considered a 
common enemy, were soon revived, and led to an 
open declaration of war between the tribes assem¬ 
bled. The inhabitants of Atehuru and Papara, 
who had been invited by the Porionu to join them 
in destroying the Bure Atua, attacked the Porionu; 
and, in the battle that followed, obtained a com¬ 
plete victory over them, killing one of their prin¬ 
cipal chiefs, and obliging the vanquished to seek 
their safety in flight. 
After this affair, the people of Taiarabu joined 
the victors. The whole island was again involved 
in war, and the conquering party scoured the coast 
from Atehuru to the eastern side of the isthmus, 
burning every house, destroying every plantation, 
plundering every article of property, and reducing 
the verdant and beautiful districts of Pare, Faaa, 
the romantic valleys of Hautaua, Matavai, and 
Apaiano, and the whole of the north-eastern part of 
the island, to a state of barrenness and desolation. 
Success did not bring peace or rest to the vie- 
