ABSTRACT
War is determined in the council of the state, when the assembled chiefs take a solemn oath binding them to the prosecution of it. Slavery is the mildest lot of a prisoner of war. The predatory expeditions of the Indian islanders are much more frequent than their conquests; and in these the principal objects are to carry off the cattle and women, and to lay the enemy's country waste by fire and sword. Of the difficult art of supplying an army with subsistence, understood only by nations in the highest state of civilization, it is needless to insist, that the barbarians of the Indian islands are wholly ignorant. Infantry is the prevailing force, and the fishermen naturally conduct their wars principally on water. Cavalry may be rather looked upon as a matter of pomp and luxury than a useful arm of war.
