292 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
campaign, but it was more frequently continued 
till the flight of one party left the other master of 
the field. 
The carnage and destruction which followed the 
fati or breaking, and hea or flying, of one of the 
armies, was dreadful. It was called tahaea , and 
in it the gods were supposed to engage as well as 
the men. Those who were vi , or beaten, fled to 
their canoes, or to their paris or fastnesses in the 
mountains, while the victors, who were called 
upoatia , erect heads, pursued them with reckless 
slaughter. A prostrate warrior, as he lay at the 
feet of his antagonist, wounded or disarmed, would 
perhaps supplicate mercy, exclaiming Tahitia 
iau ia ora tvaa —Spare me, may I live. If the 
name of the king* or chief, of the victor, was 
invoked, the request was often granted ; but fre^* 
quently a reproach or taunt, and a deadly blow or 
thrust, was the only reply. 
The slaughter of the routed army was continued 
till the evening closed on the scene of murder and 
of blood, or until the fugitives had either reached 
their fortifications and strongholds in the moun¬ 
tains, or had eluded the pursuit of their enemies.— 
When the men went to battle, the women gene¬ 
rally remained; but some of them fearlessly at¬ 
tended their husbands to the field, and either 
followed in the rear, or fought in the midst of the 
ranks. They carried the same kind of weapons as 
the men, but frequently used only their nails and 
their hands. Many were slain in the field, or 
during the retreat. 
By whatever considerations civilized and 
enlightened nations may be influenced in the 
practice of war, and upon whatever principles 
they may desire to conduct it, war, barbarous, 
