P R I N C I P
L E S OF
U N IO N .
T h e great chief is called Aree-rahai: the reft o f his family
are all Arees, and have l'onie landed property, and among them,
we obferved men o f ftill greater rank and authority, who were
chiefs of the difterents diftridts, or -Whennuas in the ifle, and
were called after the diftridt, which was entrufted to their care and
government; thus Hapai O -T u ’s father was Ares riO-parre, chief o f
Oparre; O-R etti was chief o f O-Hiddea y O -Am o was chief o f
Papara j T -O w h a and Potatou Were joint-chiefs o f Atdhooroo j
Toppere had the direction o f Matavai and Toomataroa that o f
Pittahaw. Befides thefe, is a elafs o f people called Manahotmes*
who have landed property; and laftly, thofe belonging to the lowelt
rank o f people are called Toutoui.
As feveral words o f the Malay language,, are found in the O -T a -
heitee tongue, and its various dialedts, they may be oonfidered as
proofs of the origin o f thefe iftanders. I am not willing to affirm
that they are abfolutely the immediate offspring o f the Malays
but it appeared to me very obvious from many concurring circum-
ftances, that they were defcended from fome tribes, that are related to
the Malays. Th e Tagalas and Pampangas are no doubt the offe
r in g o f the Malays; for Dr. Gemelli Carreri affirms, that they
'came from the continent of Malacca, and they themfelves allow,,
that they came from Borneo.* Th e inhabitants o f the Ladrones
fpeak.
* Voyage autour du monde par Gemelli Carreri, tom, v . p . 64,
ipeak a language related to that of the Tagalas-.* Th e vicinity of
dome o f the New-Caroline iflands, and the fimilarity o f their cuf-
toms and manners, make it highly probable, that the fame nation
is fpr.ead all over that great duller o f iflands, extending for more
than 30 degrees o f longitude; and from thence to Byrons Ifland,
and feme o f thofe iflands where the Taheitean dialed is fpoken, is
not fo great a diftance, By this line I prefume to trace the firft
migration o f the tribes, who firft peopled the Eaftern South-Sea
ifles. I f we add to this the great fimilarity between the manners
and culloms o f the inhabitants o f the Caroline iflands, and thofe o f
the Friendly ifles, this line o f migration muft .appear to be lome-
thing more than mere conjedture.
T h e molt authentic accounts o f a modern philofophic traveller -(*
inform us, that a kind o f feudal lyftern is received by the Malays,
which, as far as we know, admits o f feveral tanks o f men, very
much in the fame manner as we obferved in the Society ifles ; and
they poflefs likewife their lands by a kind o f feudal tenure. Th e
great chief or king, grants to the inferior chiefs, a diftridt or pro*
vince : under them, the reft o f the Arees or chiefs have portions o f
land allotted to them; and the Manahounes, though not o f the
Z 2 2 royal
* See H'iftoire des Ifles Marianes par le P. Gobien, Paris, 1700, 121110. &c the Abftradt
Tif-the feeond book of Gobien, in des -Brofles Hiltoire dcs Navigations, aux Ter res Auftralcs,
V.0I. ii. p. 495. -
Mr. le Poivre,
ORIGIN
OF S O C I -
T I E S