16 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
the precipice or passage which they were supposed 
to defend; yet, on passing the same path only a 
very short time afterwards, we have invariably 
found them replaced, or, if broken, their places 
supplied by fresh ones. This conduct of our native 
companions was never the consequence of our 
directions, and seldom received our approbation, 
for we were not ambitious to become Iconoclasts; 
our object was rather to enlighten the minds of the 
people, and convince them of the absurdity and 
evil of idolatry, to present before them the true 
God as the only legitimate object of rational ho¬ 
mage, lead them to the exercise of a better faith, 
and the adoption of a purer worship ; well assured 
that, if, under the blessing of God, we succeeded in 
this, they themselves would, with the adoption of the 
Christian system, not only renounce idolatry, but 
abolish the observances by which it was upheld. 
The Pari of Anuanu was an important position 
in times of war, and the parties in possession of it 
were usually masters of the island. In its vicinity 
many sanguinary battles have been fought, and 
near it the independence of Oahu was lost in or 
about the year 1790. Tamehameha invaded Oahu ; 
the king of the island assembled his forces to de¬ 
fend his country, between Honoruru and the Pearl 
river; an engagement took place, in which his 
army was defeated, and his ally, Taeo, king of 
Tauai and Neehau, was slain. The king of Oahu 
retreated to the valley of Anuanu, where he was 
joined by Taiana, an ambitious and warlike chief 
of Hawaii. Hither Tamehameha and his vic¬ 
torious warriors pursued them, and, about two miles 
from the Pari, the last battle in Oahu was fought. 
Here the king of Oahu was slain ; his army then 
fled towards the precipice, chased by the warriors of 
