17^9. ROUND THE WORLD. ^39 



deed, and the rest that lie near it, have a particular 

 bird, some a heron, and others a king's-fisher, to 

 which they pay a peculiar regard, and concerning 

 which they have some superstitious notions with re- 

 spect to good and bad fortune, as we have of the 

 swallow and robin-red-breast, giving them the name 

 of Eatua, and by no means killing or molesting them ; 

 yet they never address a petition to them, or ap- 

 proach them with any act of adoration. 



Though I dare not assert that these people, to 

 whom the art of writing, and consequently the re- 

 cording of laws, are utterly unknown, live under a 

 regular form of government ; yet a subordination is 

 established among them, that greatly resembles the 

 early state of every nation in Europe under the feu- 

 dal system, which secured liberty in the most licen- 

 tious excess to a few, and entailed the most abject 

 slavery upon the rest. 



Their orders are, Earee rahie, which answers to 

 king ; Earee, baron ; Manahouni, vassal ; and Tou- 

 tou, villain. The Earee rahie, of which there are 

 two in this island, one being the sovereign of each of 

 the peninsulas of which it consists, is treated with 

 great respect by all ranks, but did not appear to us 

 to be invested with so much power as was exercised 

 by the Earees in their own districts j nor, indeed, did 

 we, as I have before observed, once see the sovereign 

 of Obereonoo while we were in the island. The 

 Earees are lords of one or more of the districts into 

 which each of the peninsulas is divided, of which there 

 may be about one hundred in the whole island ; and 

 they parcel out their territories to the Manahounies, 

 who cultivate each his part which he holds under the 

 baron. The lowest class, called Toutous, seem to 

 be nearly under the same circumstances as the vil- 

 lains in feudal governments : these do all the laborious 

 work ; they cultivate the land under the Manahounies, 

 who are only nominal cultivators for the lord, they 

 fetch wood and water, and, under the direction of 



