ANCIENT TAHITIAN SOCIETY

Matavai Bay, Island ofTahiti by George Tobin, 1792. Image courtesy State Library of New South Wales FL1606990.

ANCIENT TAHITIAN SOCIETY

DOUGLAS L. OLIVER

THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF HAWAII HONOLULU

Copyright © 1974 by The University Press of Hawaii

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pgs 376-387

Warfare

Among the Society Islanders, in consequence of the influence of the climate, luxurious mode of living, and effeminacy of character, induced thereby, the obstinacy and the continuance of actual combat were not equal to that which obtained in other tribes; yet we learn from the frequency of its occurrence, and the deadly hatred which was cherished, that the passion for war was not less powerful with them than with the New Zealander or the Marquesian; and its consequent cruelties and demoralization were perhaps unequalled in any other part of the world. Their wars were most merciless and destructive. Invention itself was tortured to find out new or varied modes of inflicting suffering; and the total extermination of their enemies, with the desolation of a country, was often the avowed object of the war. This design, horrid as it is, has been [on occasion] literally accomplished: every inhabitant of an island, excepting the few that may have escaped by flight in their canoes, has been slaughtered; the bread-fruit trees have been cut down, and left to rot; the cocoa-nut trees have been killed by cutting off their tops or crown, and leaving the stems in desolate leafless ranks, as if they had been shivered by the lightning. Warfare1 does indeed appear to have been a major preoccupation of the Maohis, involving social interactions of a most crucial nature and bringing about extensive changes in social relations. There may have been periods in Maohi prehistory when warfare served to maintain existing social relations, but during the era immediately before and after first European contact it was revolutionary in its social consequences and, quite possibly, in its conduct. Full explication of the various causes of warfare must be postponed to later chapters, but it may be useful to list a few of the more immediate ones here. Some writers, such as Moerenhout and Andía y Varela, included “economic” factors among the several causes of war: the desire, for example, for better land or for certain food when local resources were in short supply. In connection with the latter, Moerenhout asserted that when their own supplies gave out people living high up the valleys often attempted, sometimes by force, to obtain breadfruit from the longer-producing plains areas, and reciprocally that plainsmen would raid inland areas for plantains and other wild foods. Such forays, Moerenhout added, were generally on a small scale, usually having involved only

 “chefs subalternes” of the same tribal district, and thus were of no real concern to the districts’ sovereign chiefs. Some subsistence inequities may have occurred and have resulted in instances of localized raiding, but such conflict cannot have been very general or frequent, for, as noted in chapter 7, most Maohis resided in or had easy access to the same type of resource zone. Moreover, there is no record of any specific conflict of this nature developing into one large enough to figure in Maohi verbal traditions or European written records. Similarly, with respect to warfare resulting directly from desires for territory with richer economic resources, instances of such may indeed have taken place, but they were neither frequent enough nor large-scale enough to have been chronicled. Numerous boundary disputes are recorded as having developed into major armed conflicts, and, although “economic” factors may have underlain many of these, their more immediate causes were usually of a different nature. Andía y Varela listed the capture of women as having been one of the main causes of warfare, and oral tradition contains episodes of this kind. It is probably true that males outnumbered females somewhat, but in view of Maohi women’s relatively unfettered existences, except in certain dietary and ritual matters, it is unlikely that there was much widespread “capture” of them. Women undoubtedly figured among the causes of warfare, but not as mere pawns. As already mentioned, disputes over boundaries are recorded as having developed into large-scale armed conflict , and some of these were probably based on contention over economic resources. More often, however, boundary warfare resulted when one of the parties disregarded another’s frontiers as a gesture of political affront. As later chapters will describe, ambitions to extend or efforts to curb political power probably accounted for most of the larger, more devastating armed conflicts of the eras under study. Even gratuitous acts of cruelty and predation did not usually lead to large-scale warfare unless the political interests of socially important individuals became involved; and this was also true of instances of sacrilege, whether committed purposefully or otherwise. But it will be more sensible to discuss these matters after some basis has been provided for an understanding of Maohi social relations, so I proceed now with a description of the more technical aspects of Maohi warfare.

WEAPONS AND UNIFORMS The principal weapons of the Maohis were spears, clubs, rasps, and stones. In addition, warriors sometimes carried “battleaxes” of pearl shell, but these were used more for dismembering fallen foe than for actual fighting. The Maohis also made bows and arrows, as noted above, but these were, inexplicably, used only for sport and hunting.

What most observers called “spears” were used for throwing, thrusting, and even clubbing and parrying. One type (pātia, tao), made of such hardwoods as ironwood, Alphitonia (toi), or coconut, was from twelve to eighteen feet long, about one and one-half to two inches in thickest diameter, and tapered to a pointed end. As was the case with other Maohi wooden weapons it was polished smooth but was not carved. Another type of spear differed from the pātia in being generally shorter and more slender, and in having a flat-bladed, lozenge-shaped fighting end. In some of these the butt end was rounded, in others pointed. A third type of spear (hoto ihe, maehae) was even shorter and had barbs of fishbones. Some flat-bladed spears were used also as clubs, but there were true clubs (‘omore), varying from long flat bladed types to short bludgeons. Ellis reported that the handles of spears and clubs were covered, for surer gripping, with the resinous gum of the breadfruit tree. Some fighting was done with the natural rasp provided by the serrated backbone of the stingray (‘aero fai) drawn across a foe’s body. Another fighting rasp consisted of a single or forked stick edged with sharks’ teeth (paeho). Stones were hurled in battle, both by hand and by sling, with what has been described as great force and deadly accuracy . In addition to all these fighting implements the Maohis fashioned long spears out of hibiscus wood (pūrau), but these were used only for sport.

Ellis gave the following account of the offensive employment of spears and clubs: The combatants did not use much science in the action, nor scarcely aim to parry their enemy’s weapons; they used no shield or target, and, believing the gods directed and sped their weapons with more than human force upon their assailants, they depended on strength more than art for success. Their clubs were invariably aimed at the head, and often, with the lozenge shaped weapon, they would tapai, or cleave, the skulls of their opponents. Their spears they directed against the body, and the maui was often a deadly thrust, piercing through the heart. Cook, in describing a sham battle, praised the Maohis’ defensive skills especially: Otou [Tu] who was present caused some of the Troops to go through with their exercise on Shore, Two parties first began with Clubs, but this was so soon over that I had no time to make observations upon it, they then went to Single Combat and went thro’ the Various methods of fighting with great alertness and parried off the blows, pushed &ca each combatant intended the other with great dexterity; their Arms were Clubs and Spears which they also used as darts. In fighting with the Clubs, I observed all side-blows were parried with the Club except those intended the legs which were evaded by leaping over them, a downright blow on the head they evaded by couching a little and leaping on one side, thus the blow Warfare would fall to the ground: they parried off the Spear or dart by fixing the point of their spear in the ground and holding of it before them in an inclined position more or less elevated, according to the part of the body they saw their antagonist intended to make a push or throw his dart, and by turning their hand a little to the right or left turn off either the one or the other.

Cook however was less impressed than Ellis was with the Maohis’ offensive tactics: I thought that when one combatant had parried the blows &ca of the other, he did not take all the advantages which seem’d to me to accrue, as for instance, after he had parried of a dart he still stood on the defensive and suffered his Antagonist to take up another, when I thought their was time enough to have run him thro’ the body, but by such a step they might have exposed themselves to more danger than I could see or be aware of. According to Varela they handled their “cudgels” with “astonishing dexterity,” having been able to “… defend themselves against a sword without their opponent being able to get a cut in, skilful fencer though he be. I speak from the experience of a friendly trial which took place between Titorea … and a member of the storeship’s crew—a smart enough adept in fencing with the Spanish sword.”

  A slingsman went to battle dressed only in loincloth (maro) and, sometimes, poncho (tiputa), but most other fighters wore one or more other items of body covering or headwear. Maohi “armor” consisted of a network of sennit cords wound around body and limbs “… so tight, as merely to allow of the unencumbered exercise of the legs and arms, and not to impede the circulation of the blood”. This covering may have served somewhat to lessen blows of clubs and stones but did not defend much against a spear. Fine mats or sheets of bark cloth in place of armor were often worn in battle. Some men were so thickly girded with the latter that they were perceptibly impeded in their movements. “The very best things they possessed they always put on to go to war”. A most singular item of battle dress, and one having great exchange value, was the taūmi, or demi-gorget, a wickerwork breast covering decorated with shell, sharks’ teeth, and feathers. Some fighters wore only a strip of bark cloth around their temples, others protected their heads with huge turbans of the same material, still others decorated their heads with showy feather headgear, and a few made themselves conspicuous to both friend and foe by wearing an imposing fau, described by Ellis as … a cap fitted closely to the head, surrounded by a cylindrical structure of canework, ornamented with the dark glossy feathers of aquatic birds. The hollow crown frequently towered two or three feet above the head, and, being curved at the top, appeared to nod or bend with every movement of the wearer. This was a head-dress in high esteem, and worn only by distinguished men, who were generally sought out by the warriors in the opposing army. To subdue or kill a man who wore a fau, was one of the greatest feats. I have been often told, by a gigantic man who resided some time in my house, and was one of the warriors of Eimeo, that when the army of the enemy has come in sight, they used to look out for the fau rising above the rest of the army, and when they have seen one, pointing to it, animate each other by the exclamation, “The man with the fau; ha! whosoever shall obtain him, it will be enough.” But, however imposing in appearance these high helmets may have been, they afforded no defence; and although formed only of cane-work and feathers, must have been cumbersome. The relevance of the foregoing to social relations lies mainly in the relationship of weapons and battle attire to class status, a matter that will be discussed later on; but one may draw attention here to the unsuitability of some aspects of battle attire to the business of fighting. Armor and thick turbans undoubtedly served to reduce the effects of blows. Thick layers of body wrapping had the same effect but must have encumbered offensive fighting considerably. And as for the elaborate ornamental headgear, it could only have been a hindrance to fighting and surviving.

TRAINING The normal everyday activities of most Maohi males served to keep them in excellent physical trim for fighting, on land or on sea. Also, many of them engaged in sports which had the effect—and evidently even the avowed purpose—of preparing them for battle: Their martial games were numerous; and to those preparatory sports, the youth paid great attention. The moto, or boxing, and the maona, or wrestling, were regarded as a sort of military drilling; but the vero patia, throwing the spear or javelin, and the practice of throwing stones from a sling, were the principal military games. But in addition, larger groups of males also occasionally engaged in practice maneuvers and sham fighting, probably more in preparation for specific engagements than as part of a peacetime policy of readiness. Drilling was a standardized activity, as detailed in the following: Standing upon an open field the drilling master said:

Toto‘o i te tahua ia mata tahua roa. March out upon the long course.

Toto‘o i te tahua ia mata tahua poto. March out upon the short course.

Tahi pae ia rupe-a-nu‘u. One side for mountain-pigeon inland.

Tahi pae i tai ia rupe-i-tai. One side for mountain-pigeon coastwise.

E ‘ori tatavi e ha‘a ta te va. Emotion will dance, the waves [people] will work.

E mataitai ta pua i te fau. Fau flower will look on.

E ‘ori te heiva ia orea. Drilling will be the lively game.

 Na atua i uta e, a haere mai! O gods inland, come forth!

Na atua i tai e, a haere mai! O gods coastwise, come forth!

Na atua i ni‘a e a haere mai! O gods above, come forth!

Na atua i raro e, a haere mai! O gods below, come forth!

A haere mai ei atua a‘e i ta tatou Come as gods in our amusement,

Ei ha‘api‘i i teienei mau pipi To teach these pupils

I te tia raau. The use of wood weapons.

E moe i te Fatu, Rest in the lord,

E moe i te Fatu, Rest in the lord, Taaroa

Ta‘aroa, E tata te tapua ra‘au, The user of the wood must strike,

 E ta i te vai o Tu‘. Must strike the waters of stability (war).

I noaa tana i‘a, That he may obtain his fish,

E vaevae roroa. Long legs (slain men).

Tana tiea e ‘ura! This club is red!

Then they would drill first with the club in six movements.

 (1) E ‘ura teo; (2) e ‘ura teni; (1) Exaltation red; (2) boastful red;

(3) E ‘ura teo; (4) e ‘ura teni; (3) Exaltation red; (4) boastful red;

(5) E ‘ura pitara; (6) e ‘ura faau. (5) Raising red; (6) striking red.

E fa‘a‘a, e hoa ia Tane Suit it, O friends, to Tane,

Atua o te mau mea purotu, God of beauty,

Ia riro te hui ra‘atira That the people may

Ei papa rahi, Become a great rock,

Ei tahe vai pue i te ‘ite; A freshet in dexterity,

Ei ueue a vi Become subduers,

Ei manuu a horo; Become fast runners;

Ia poiri i vaho, That darkness be [thrown] out,

Ia marama i roto. That the light be let in.

They went through all their drilling thoroughly on land and sea. Cook described one episode of sham naval fighting, this one specifically arranged on his account: I looked upon this to be a good oppertunity to get some insight into their Manner of fighting and desired Otoo to order some of them to go through the necessary manouvres. Two were accordingly ordered off, in one of them Otoo Mr King and my self went and Omai in the other. After we were out in the bay, we faced, and advanced upon each other and retreated by turns, as quick as the paddlers could move them; during this the warriors on the Stages flourished their weapons and played a hundred Antick tricks which could answer no other end that I could see than to work up their passions for fighting. Otoo stood by the side of the Stage and gave the necessary orders when to advance and when to retreat, in this great judgement and a quick eye combined together seemed necessary to seize every advantage that might offer and to avoid giving advantage. At last after advancing and retreating, to and from each other at least a dozen times, the two canoes closed, head to head, or stage to stage and after a short conflict, the troops on our Stage were supposed to be killed and we were board[ed] by Omai and his associates, and that very instant Otoo and all the paddlers leaped over board to save their lives by swimming.

The Spaniard Andía y Varela also described a sham naval fight which took place on the occasion of the visit of one chiefly personage to another. Because of a food scarcity in the host’s district, the guest of honor ordered supplies to be sent from his home district. When provisions arrived, carried by over two hundred canoes, some of them were left in the canoes to serve as a prize in a mock battle between local people and visitors—presumably a conventional kind of sportive encounter. In the foray which followed, “… many blows and hard knocks were dealt on either side.” The winner in this game was the side that ended up with the most booty.

Some large-scale armed conflicts commenced with stealthily executed attacks against unsuspecting enemies, but most Maohi warfare which the early Europeans chronicled began only after what amounted to public declaration and lengthy prologue, with the foe well warned if not well prepared. Mobilization involved both political and religious acts; in most instances the principal adversary on each side had to take steps to secure both human and supernatural assistance. Few leaders commanded enough wholly reliable manpower to be able to engage in large-scale battles without first taking steps to rally local support and secure allies. It seems to have been generally believed that no amount of human effort could achieve a victory without supernatural concurrence and assistance. Although it is impossible to learn, from available evidence, the relative decisiveness of these two factors in the thinking of most Maohis, some suggestive passages relating to this question will be quoted below. As a matter of fact, the political and religious steps toward mobilization were simultaneously pursued. Even the most powerful tribal chiefs apparently felt it necessary to consult their principal supporters before committing themselves to full-scale war. This was usually done by convening a council of war, to decide whether to go to war and, if so, to apportion contributions in manpower and materials. Here is Henry’s account of the physical arrangements of such a meeting: When at last the council met, the speakers sat in a central group, the sovereign and counselors sitting in a row at one end facing them and the chiefs and priests in a row to the right and to the left of the orators. The lower end of the two lines remained open for ingress and egress; but no one dared to cross the space between the sovereign and the orators, on pain of death. Outside of this official assembly sat an audience of the people, who had no voice in the meeting but felt a lively interest in what the orators said and were generally greatly impressed with their eloquence—the deliberations sometimes lasting over a day. A passage from Moerenhout indicates that such meetings were no mere formalities: These assemblies usually took place out of doors. The participating chiefs wore a special council-meeting garment (auhaana), a mat of fine quality which extended to the knees. The ra‘atira, those proprietors of large estates, whom I have already mentioned, were seated there with their superiors; and knowing full well that the latter depended upon their assistance they did not hesitate to express their own opinions. Usually both the pros and the cons were discussed in such meetings with clarity, emotion and eloquence. And, however bellicose the general populace may have been, the counsel of the majority of inferior chiefs sometimes forced the arii to give up his martial enterprises.

According to Ellis, the harangues of the orators, presumably both for and against war, were specimens of “… the most impassioned natural eloquence, bold and varied in its figures, and impressive in its effects.” Ellis continued: I never had an opportunity of attending one of their national councils when the question of war was debated, under all the imposing influence imparted by their mythology, whereby they imagined the contention between the gods of the rivals was as great as that sustained by the parties themselves. A number of the figures and expressions used on these occasions are familiar, but, detached and translated, they lose their force. From what I have beheld in their public speeches, in force of sentiment, beauty of metaphor, and effect of action, I can imagine that the impression of an eloquent harangue, delivered by an ardent warrior, armed perhaps for combat, and aided by the influence of highly excited feeling, could produce no ordinary effect; and I have repeatedly heard Mr. Nott [another missionary] declare (and no one can better appreciate native eloquence), he would at any time go thirty miles to listen to an address impassioned as those he has sometimes heard on these occasions. As noted above, while the question of war and peace was being argued among political personages, priests sought signs from the spirits: If in starting out to seek omens, the priests met with derision from a thoughtless group, it was regarded as a sign that defeat awaited the warriors, and that sufficed to cause abandonment of the project. If in seeking omens at night a priest chanced to touch something soft and pleasant with his toes, he said that the army would be victorious; but if his whole foot went in he said that the army would lose. If his face got covered with a spider’s web in the bushes he returned home feeling that he was not inspired and advised the sovereign not to venture in the project. If he paddled out in a canoe at night and a school of fishes jumped into his canoe, he said the enemy would thus fall into their hands. In addition to such informal actions as these, more organized measures were undertaken to prognosticate and to secure the active assistance of friendly spirits by scrupulous performance of certain rituals and by gifts.

There may have been times in Maohi prehistory when each warring unit enjoyed the more or less exclusive support of this or that tutelar spirit, whose goodwill had to be continually courted, and perhaps, but not usually, competed for. Some of the armed conflicts of the eras under study may also have taken place under that kind of fixed supernatural auspices, but by then many other of the large-scale conflicts appear to have involved adversaries seeking approval and assistance from the same spirit, or set of spirits, and this of course required the offering of competitively attractive gifts.6 In fact, during the second half of the eighteenth century, the god ‘Oro appears to have achieved the status of a universal war god, whose favors were everywhere courted in connection with warfare. While most other spirits may have once been satisfied to receive offerings of pigs, dogs, fish, fine mats, and the like, ‘Oro preferred human beings; and his preference appears to have begun to be shared by several other spirits courted specifically for war. In any case, in the fullest descriptions that have survived concerning the ceremonial aspect of warfare, human sacrifice was a recurrent theme. In one version a full-scale program of prebattle religious ceremonies lasted several days. The first three episodes of these events took place in conjunction with political meetings: (1) matea (awaken): a human sacrifice was offered to ‘Oro to “awaken” this deity and invite his presence and assistance; (2) maui fa‘atere (the throwing, or darting): another human sacrifice was offered (to ‘Oro also?), which served as a public declaration of war; (3) haea mati (tearing the peace-treaty emblem): still another human sacrifice was offered, figuratively representing the breaking off of any treaty relations that might have formerly bound the adversaries in a peace pact. During these ceremonies priests continued to look for signs of the spirits’ attitudes toward the proposed war, as indicated, for example, by movements of the victims’ muscles. In the views of some writers these signs of a spirit’s attitude were regarded by the general populace as completely reliable and utterly decisive, when in fact they were not infrequently mere “juggling and contrivance” designed only to “… deceive the people into a persuasion that the god sanctioned the views of the king and government” . As Moerenhout observed: These oracles, however, almost always conformed to the politics of the chief; and it was especially on these occasions that the latter needed (the) priests. Though some, in fact, oppossed the ra‘atiras’ making war, it was rare that they resisted the gods’ will and no one would have refused to march when the sacrificers had promised victory. In this sense it was asserted by Moerenhout that the priests were masters of equivocation, having been cautious, for one reason or another, to interpret the signs in terms broad enough to accommodate to the shifting of political winds and even to the possibility of unfavorable military outcome. Not so the shamans. When some spirit declared itself for war or peace through the instrument of a credible taura, its words were positive and usually decisive—which does not, of course, rule out the possibility that the behavior of some taura was, like that of the priests, influenced by politics. In any case, during the era under study the rise to influence of the war god ‘Oro was accompanied by a proliferation of shamans serving more or less exclusively as that god’s vehicle, and some of these achieved institutionalized positions of considerable influence over secular affairs. There is evidence for believing that when one of these shamans spoke out for peace or war even the most powerful secular leaders were swayed. However the decision was arrived at, when war was decreed, there was set in motion another series of events, practical and ceremonial. Messengers were sent about the countryside announcing the decision to fight and calling upon the loyal leaders to mobilize their forces. In many cases mobilization required no longer than was necessary for the warriors to pick up their weapons and proceed to the assembly place; accounts speak of the continual state of readiness in which many men kept their weapons and battle dress. In other cases, however, there must have occurred long periods of preparation, especially when boats had to be built or converted to martial use. And during these proceedings steps were sometimes taken to remove the noncombatants—women, children, and the aged—to safer places. Upon reaching the assembly place each leader and his immediate adherents encamped together and apparently retained their separateness as long as possible thereafter. If the force included the units of allies and not just members of a single tribe—and this was the case with most large-scale armed conflicts—the principal leaders of the separate units took the precaution of meeting together, in advance of their armies, to exchange compliments and each to assure the other of his intent.

 Meanwhile another set of ceremonies took place, consisting of presentation by the secular leaders of valued objects—bark cloth, fine mats, pigs—to the priests, to compensate them for their unremitting efforts in securing the active assistance of spirits, including even winning over to their side the tutelars of the enemies . Following this was another set of ceremonies, often involving human sacrifice, in which the images of the supporting spirits were installed in temporary abodes as near to the actual fighting as possible, mainly in small marae erected on special canoes accompanying the fleet into battle. This was a most practical measure, since much large-scale combat usually took place at sea or near the shore. Also during some of these final prebattle ceremonies large quantities of food were consumed by the warriors, to sustain them during the ensuing fighting. These preliminaries completed, the forces then marched or paddled off to battle. Before describing Maohi battle there remains the question of who actually took part in the battles and how often they occurred.