146 cook's voyage to march, 



cultivate the soil, and to occupy their possessions dis- 

 tinct from each other. 



With respect to the administration of justice, all 

 the information we could collect was very imperfect 

 and confined. Whenever any of the lowest class of 

 people had a quarrel amongst themselves, the matter 

 in dispute was referred to the decision of some chief, 

 probably the chief of the district, or the person to 

 whom they appertained. If an inferior chief had 

 given cause of offence to one of a higher rank, the 

 feelings of the latter at the moment seemed the only 

 measure of his punishment. If he had the good for- 

 tune to escape the first transports of his superior's 

 rage, he generally found means, through the medi- 

 ation of some third person, to compound for his 

 crime by a part or the whole of his property and 

 effects. These were the only facts that came to our 

 knowledge on this head. 



The religion of these people resembles, in most of 

 its principal features, that of the Society and Friendly 

 Islands. Their Morals, their Whattas, their idols, 

 their sacrifices, and their sacred songs, all of which 

 they have in common with each other, are convincing 

 proofs, that their religious notions are derived from 

 the same source. In the length and number of their 

 ceremonies, this branch indeed far exceeds the rest ; 

 and, though in all these countries, there is a certain 

 class of men, to whose care the performance of their 

 religious rights is committed ; yet we had never met 

 with a regular society of priests, till we discovered 

 the cloisters of Kakooa in Karakakooa Bay. The 

 head of this order was called Orono; a title which 

 we imagined to imply something highly sacred, and 

 which, in the person of Omeeah, was honoured 

 almost to adoration. It is probable, that the privi- 

 lege of entering into this order (at least as to the 

 principal offices in it), is limited to certain families. 

 Omeeah, the Orono, was the son of Kaoo, and the 



