ing their indignation. The King started from his seat,
and exclaimed with violent gestures, "You see we have already violated
the strongest Tabus, and yet the Gods inflict no punishment, because
they have no power; neither have they power to do us good. Our faith was
erroneous and worthless. Come, let us destroy the Marais, and from
henceforth acknowledge no religion!" The immediate dependents of the
King rose to second him: the inhabitants of Hanaruro had been depraved
by their intercourse with foreign sailors, and a tumultuous crowd, who
held nothing sacred, soon followed the revellers. Arrived at the royal
Marai, some of them, terrified by the aspect of their idols, would have
receded; but when the King himself, and his friends and followers, began
to maltreat them, and no divine vengeance followed, the courage of the
multitude revived, and the Marais were soon utterly destroyed. This
outrage to what the people at large most venerated, introduced a scene
of confusion and violence, and would indeed have entailed destruction
both on the King and the country, had not Karemaku again stood forward
in their defence. Several Yeris who, disapproving the sentiments of the
King, had retired privately from the banquet, joined the priests in
exciting the people to defend their gods by force of arms. An army was
raised, and, animated by the presence of the war-god, commenced
hostilities against his sacrilegious opponents. When the news of the
destruction of the Marais reached the other islands, insurrections also
broke out in each of them. Karemaku had condemned the sacrilege, and
abstained from any part in it; but as it could not now be prevented, and
he foresaw the mischievous consequences of civil commotions, he
assembled an army, and, victorious wherever he appeared, succeeded in
restoring tranquillity. On the large island O Wahi, however, he
encountered a formidable resistance; but at length, after several bloody
contests, he captured the war-god: the insurgents, who had also lost
their leaders in the last battle, believing themselves quite abandoned
by the gods, now dispersed, and Karemaku, on the restoration of
tranquillity, returned to Wahu.

It is a remarkable fact, that a people who regarded their faith and
their priests with so much reverence, as I had myself witnessed
previously to this occurrence, should in so short a period, acquiescing
in the decree which denounced their creed as error, and consigned their
sanctuar