162 TAHAITIAN CONSTITUTION. 
ous effects, as to have often exclaimed, when 
under the influence of intoxication, ‘‘ O King, 
to-day could thy fat swine govern better than 
hy 
° 
thou canst This weakness was, however, so 
much over-balanced by his many good qualli- 
ties, his well-tried valour, his inflexible justice, 
his constant mildness and generosity, that he 
possessed to the last the universal esteem and 
love of his subjects, by whom his loss was still 
deplored when we arrived at Tahaiti, almost 
two years after his death, although he had 
reigned as an unlimited monarch, and they 
now possessed a constitution resembling, or 
rather aping, that of England. This had been 
introduced by the influence of the Missionaries, 
whose power over the minds of the Tahaitians 
is unbounded; they had persuaded the people 
to adopt it during the minority of Pomareh’s 
son, a child of four years old at the period of 
our visit; but from the general regret with 
which the days of the absolute King were re- 
membered, it did not appear to have given 
much satisfaction. 
According to this Constitution, Tahaiti is di- 
vided into nineteen districts, and the neigh- 
