294 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES, 
desolate leafless ranks, as if they had been shivered 
by lightning. 
Their wars were not only sanguinary, but fre- 
quent; yet from a variety of ceremonies, which 
preceded the expeditions, they were seldom prompt 
in commencing hostilities. What they were prior 
to the first visits of foreigners, we have not the 
means of correctly ascertaining, but since that 
time, the only period during which correct dates 
can be affixed to events in their history, the short 
and simple annals of Tahiti are principally filled 
with notices of destructive wars; and the effects, 
of desolation still visible, prove that they have not 
been less frequent in the other islands. 
The occasions of hostility were also at times 
remarkably trivial, though not so their conse. 
quences. The removal of a boundary mark; the 
pulling down of the king’s flag; the refusing to 
acknowledge the king’s son as their future sove- 
reig ; speaking disrespectfully of the gods, the 
king, or the chiefs ; the slightest insult to the king, 
chiefs, or any in alliance or friendship with them ; 
with a variety of more insignificant causes—were 
sufficient to justify an appeal to arms, or an 
invasion of tiie offender’s territory with fire and 
spear. Although there were no standing armies 
or regular troops in the South Sea Islands, nor 
any class of men exclusively trained and kept for 
military purposes, war was followed as a profession 
as much as any other, and considered by many as 
one to which every other should be rendered sub- 
servient. 
