In times of war, all capable of bearing arms were called upon to join the forces of the chieftain to whom they belonged; and the farmers, who held their land partly by feudal tenure, were obliged to render military service whenever their landlord required it. There were, besides these, a number of men celebrated for their valour, strength, or address in war, who were called _aito_, fighting-men or warriors. This title was the result of achievements in battle; it was highly respected, and proportionably sought by the courageous and ambitious. It was not, like the chieftainship and other prevailing distinctions, confined to any class, but open to all, and many from the lower ranks have risen as warriors to a high station in the community. [Illustration: Tonga Weapons.] Originally their weapons were simple and formed of wood; they consisted of the spear, which the natives called _patia_ or _tao_, made with the wood of the cocoa-nut tree or of the _aito_, iron-wood or casuarina. It was twelve or eighteen feet long, and about an inch or an inch and a half in diameter at the middle of the lower end, but tapering off to a point at the other. The spears of the inhabitants of Rurutu and other of the Austral Islands are remarkable for their great length and elegant shape, as well as for the high polish with which they are finished. The _omore_ or club was another weapon used by them; it was always made of the _aito_ or iron-wood, and was principally of two kinds, either short and heavy like a bludgeon, for the purpose of close combat, or long and furnished with a broad lozenge-shaped blade. The Tahitians did not often carve or ornament their weapons; but by the inhabitants of the Southern Islands they were frequently very neatly though partially carved. The inhabitants of the Marquesas carve their spears, and ornament them with human hair; and the natives of the Harvey Islands, with the Friendly and Figian islanders, construct their weapons with taste and carve them with remarkable ingenuity.