March m ^de o f a hard folid wood, which has m u ch the appear-
— ,— j ance o f mahogany. One fort is from fix to e igh t feet in
len gth, finely polilhed, and grad ually increafing in thicknefs
from the extremity till within about h a lf a foot o f the point,
w h ich tapers fuddenly, and is furniihed with fou r or fix
rows o f barbs. It is not improbable, that thefe m igh t be
ufed in the w a y o f darts. T he other fort, w ith w hich we
faw the warriors at Owh yh ee and Atooi moftly armed, are
twe lve or fifteen feet long, and, inftead o f b e in g barbed,
terminate toward the point, lik e their daggers.
T h e dagger, or pahooa, is made o f heav y b la ck wood, re-
fem b lin g ebony. Its length is from one to two feet, with
a firin g p alling throu gh the handle, fo r the purpofe o f fu f-
pending it to the arm. For its íhape, I muft re fer the reader
to figure 6, in Plate LXVII.
T h e clubs are made indifferently o f feveral forts o f w ood.
T h e y are o f rude workman lhip, and o f a variety o f lhapes
and fizes.
T h e flings have n othing lingular about them ; and in no
refpedt differ from our common flings, except that the ftone
is lodged on a piece o f matting inftead o f leather.
C H A P.
C H A P. VIII.
General Account o f the Sandwich Iflands continued.—
Government.-— People divided into three Clajfes.— Power
o f Free-taboo.— Genealogy o f the Kings of Owhyhee and
Mowee.— Power o f the Chiefs.— State, of the inferior
Clafs.— Punijhment o f Crimes,-^-Religion.— Society of
Priefis.— "The Orono.— Their Idols.— Songs chanted by
the Chiefs, before they drink A va.— Human Sacrifices.
— Cuflom o f knocking out the Fore-teeth.— Notions with
regard to a future State.— Marriages.-— Remarkable
Inflance o f fealoufy.— Funeral Rites.
r I " 'H E people o f thefe iflands are manifeftly divided lvo-
JL into three claffes. T h e firft are the Erees, or Chiefs, o f » - f ’
each diftridt; one o f whom is fuperior to the reft, and is
called at O w h yh e e Eree-taboo, and Eree Moee. By the firft o f
thefe words they exprefs his abfolute au thority ; and by
the latter, that all are obliged to proftrate themfqlves (or put
themfelves to fleep, as the word fignifies) in his prefence.
T h e fecond clafs are thofe w h o appear to enjoy a right o f
property, w ithou t authority. T h e third are the towto.ws, or
fervants, w ho have neither rank nor property.
It is not pollible to g iv e any thing lik e a fyftematical account
o f the fubordination o f thefe claffes to each other,
without departing from that ftridt veracity, which, in works
o f this nature, is more fat is factory than conjectures, however
ingenious. 1 w ill, therefore, content m y fe lf with re lating
fuch fa ils , as we were witneffes to ourfelves, and fuch
V ol. III. X accounts