WILD MEN. 
305 
cord round their necks. This cruelty was not con¬ 
fined to the slain; the living captives, adults and 
children, were sometimes thus strung together by 
cords passed through the head from ear to ear, by 
holes made with the spears. 
When those who had been vanquished in the 
field did not return to battle, but remained in their 
strong-holds, another religious ceremony was per¬ 
formed by the conquerors, called the Hora,. A 
large quantity of property, the spoil of victory, 
was taken to the priests of Oro, partly as an 
acknowledgment for past success, but chiefly to 
encourage them to increased intercession that the 
destruction the god had commenced might not 
cease till their enemies were annihilated, for their 
wars were wars of extermination. 
One singular result of their dreadful wars, and 
their horrid sacrifice of human beings is, the exist¬ 
ence of a number of wild men inhabiting the fast¬ 
nesses of the interior mountains of Tahiti. I have 
not heard of any having been seen in any other 
island, but they have been more than once met 
with in the neighbourhood of Atehuru. When I 
visited this station in 1821 , I saw one of these 
men, who had been some time before taken in 
the mountains ; he was comparatively tame, yet I 
shall not soon forget his appearance. He w^as 
above the middle size, large-boned, but not fleshy. 
His features and countenance were strongly 
marked ; his complexion was not darker than 
those of many around, but his aspect was agitated 
and wild. His beard was unshaven, and his hair 
had remained uncut for many years. It appeared 
about a foot and a half in length, in some parts 
perhaps longer. He wore it parted in the middle 
of his forehead, but hanging uncombed ac 
x 
