360 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 
the ocean adjacent to the estates was in most instances considered a part 
of the estates themselves, and asa result of this condition of affairs the 
common people were prevented from gathering from the sea, without 
vexatious restrictions and grevious exactions, that very necessary part of 
their food supply which they so much loved and which the sea could 
furnish in such abundance. The only redeeming feature in this was 
that if his landlord became too exacting the tenant could move on to the 
land of some more lenient taskmaster. As the importance of the chief 
was determined largely by the number of tenants he had on his lands, 
this proved at timesa check on the rapaciousness of some of the chiefs. 
In order to continue this condition of affairs more securely in their 
own hands the ruling classes had recourse to the system of tabu (a 
corruption of the Hawaiian word ‘‘kapu”). To tabu was to command 
to do or not to do, and the meaning of it was ‘‘obey or die.” The 
tabu was a prerogative adhering exclusively to political and ecclesias- 
tical rank, and was common to the Polynesian tribes, having been 
adopted and enforced by the priesthood and nobility as a protection 
to their lives, property, and dignity. In nearly every instance the 
penalty for breaking a tabu was death. Tabus were of two kinds, 
perpetual and temporary. 
The perpetual tabus were universal and were well known to the 
people. It was perpetual tabu, except to the higher nobility, tos 
cross the shadow of the king, to stand in his presence without permis- 
sion, or to approach him except upon the knees. Everything per- 
taining to the priesthood and temples was under perpetual tabu. 
Squid, turtle, and two or three species of birds could be eaten only 
by the priests and tabu nobility, while women were tabued from 
eating plantains, bananas, cocoanuts, the flesh of swine and certain 
fish, among them the kumu, moano, ulua, honu, ea, hahalua, and naia. 
Men and women were allowed under no circumstances to partake of 
food together. This last tabu applied to everybody in the kingdom— 
king, nobles, andcommon people—and was one of the most oppressive 
of the religious tabus, as it necessitated having separate eating-houses 
for the women and men, thus putting everybody to considerable un- 
necessary expense and trouble. 
The incidental and temporary tabus were the most oppressive and 
dangerous to the common people, as they were liable to be thought- 
lessly violated. The king and tabu nobility would tabu favorite paths, 
springs, streams, and bathing-places, etc., as the whim seized them. 
The general tabus declared by the king were proclaimed by herald, 
while the temporary tabus were notified to the people by a staff, sur- 
mounted by a crown of white or black kapa, stuck in the ground 
close to the object declared sacred. 
The priesthood received its death blow in 1819, when Liholiho, the 
king, destroyed the idols and broke the worst of the religious tabus 
by eating openly with his queen. The common people, and, strange 

