Arii, or servants of an Arii,
and might thus acquire immense importance.

"Like the eunuchs at courts or the mistresses of the noble and rich,"
I remarked.

The chief shrugged his shoulders.

"The Manahune might become a priest or even join the society of the
Arioi," he rejoined. "The government was simple. The will of the prince
was supreme, but by custom things ran smoothly, and the prince, or
Arii, had seldom to urge his power. There were, of course, instances
of extortion, of bursts of anger, of feuds, of jealousies; but most
of the time the Raatira saw that the Arii were well served, and were
their intermediates with the commoners. The regular obligations of the
inferior classes were to meet at certain times to hand to the chiefs
presents, food, clothing or useful instruments, and they sought to
exceed one another in generosity. They met to build houses, to repair
them, or to construct the rock foundations of houses, according to
the importance of the chief, or Arii. They built the canoes, made
the nets, and did the fishing. The sea was divided into properties,
as was the land. The Arii had the reefs where the fish most abounded.

"War was declared with religious ceremonies. Sacrifices were the basis
of these ceremonies, and a human victim the most efficacious. The
augurs examined the entrails, the auspices, much as did the pagans
of old. Certain priests had certain duties. The Tahua Oripo, night
runners, reported the movements of the enemy. They were professional
war spies, and they acquired a marvelous ability. Sometimes they were
able to lead their party so as to surprise the enemy and slaughter
them, but usually there were preliminaries to war which warned the
other side. A herald was sent in the costume of a great warrior. He
was of high birth or famous for his fighting. He delivered himself of
his mission ceremoniously, and was never attacked. Every locality had
its war-chants, its songs of defiance. Today only a few fragments
survive. Wars were waged mostly on account of the ambitions of
princes, as to-day in Europe and Asia. But the effort of Christianity
to oust paganism in Tahiti brought about many sanguinary conflicts,
and plainly God was with the missionaries, who caused the battles. In
1815 the Battle of Feipi gave Tahiti to Pomare the Great, and to the
Protestant ministers, who were his backers. Over three hundred were
killed. A woman, the queen of the island of Huahine, commanded in
the absence