THE HAWAIIAN PEOPLE. 47 



oft-repeated ceremonies. Othens were special, temporary and erratic, having 

 their inception in the will or caprice of the king or the pleasure of the kahunas. 

 Some of the more burdensome were specific and directed against certain pei'sons 

 or objects. For example, the persons of the chiefs and priests were tabu - 

 as were the temples and the temple idols. Some in effect were exceedingly 

 rigid requirements, others partook more of the force and importance of regula- 

 tions. There were four principal tabu periods during each month. During 

 these periods a devout chief was expected to spend much time in the heiau.-^ 

 At such times women were forbidden to enter a canoe or have intercourse with 

 the other sex until the tabu was lifted. An especial edict made it incumbent 

 that during the whole period of her pregnancy the expectant mother must live 

 entirely apart from her husband, in accordance with a very ancient tabu. At 

 the periods sacred to the great gods many were put to death for infractions 

 of the tabu, as many restrictions were promulgated and enforced at such sea- 

 sons, and, through ignorance, the people were liable to disregard them. 



We are informed by the people and through the records of early visitors 

 that at such times no person could bathe, or be seen abroad during the day-time, 

 no canoes could be launched, no fires were allowed, not even a pig could grunt, 

 a dog bark or rooster crow for fear the tabu might be broken and fail of its 

 purpose. Should it fail the otfeiiders were nuule to pay the penalty with their 

 lives. 



Any pai-ticular place or object might be declared tabu by the proper pei-son 

 by simply affixing to it a stick bearing aloft a bit of tapa, this being a sufficient 

 sign that the loc_ality was to be avoided. The bodies of the dead were especially 

 sacred objects and always tabu. As long as the body remained unburied it was 

 subject to the vagaries of the system. Those who remained in the house or had 

 to do with the corpse were defiled and forbidden to enter other houses in the 

 village. 



Owing ti) the tabu, two nvens must be maintained, one for the husband, the 

 other for the v.-ife ; two houses must be built to eat in, a third to sleep in. In a 

 thousand similar ways the system was fastened on every act of the dnily life of 

 the people to such an extent that it was ever present, dominating their every 

 thought and deed. It oppressed their lives, cirtailed their liberties, and dark- 

 ened and narrowed theii' lidi'lzon bevond belief. 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE RELIGION OF THE HAWAIIANS : THEIR METHODS OF WAR- 

 FARE AND FEUDAL OROANIZATION. 



Cr.niplcx and bewildering as was the Hawaiian system of t.'ibiis,- their re- 

 ligious system was even more so. Moreover, the one was so intertwined with 

 the other that the two subjects cannot be treated separately. Since the Ha- 



