POLYNESIA. 37 



no other group was the difference so striking between the nobles and 

 the common people. The former were above the middle height, and 

 of enormous bulk. They became large, fat, and sleek, like prize oxen, 

 and by the same process of idleness and huge feeding. The latter 

 were small and thin, with a coarse outline of form and feature. Not 

 less contrasted were the manners of the two classes. The deportment 

 of the chiefs was haughty, bold, and commanding ; that of their sub- 

 jects humble, timid, and mean. The chiefs were heartless and cruel 

 from luxury, and the habit of undisputed sway, and their subjects, 

 from misery, and the results of long oppression. The former sacri- 

 ficed human beings by hundreds to atone for a broken tabu, and the 

 latter murdered their own children to escape the trouble of supporting 

 them. In short, it was, perhaps, as bad a government as could have 

 been devised. The root of the evil was undoubtedly the system by 

 which the title to all the land was vested in the king. According to 

 the native account, this feature in their polity was the result of a 

 voluntary renunciation of their rights by the people themselves. In 

 the " Moo-olelo Hawaii" it is stated, that " in the reign of an ancient 

 king of Hawaii, by name Pui-atalani, his subjects were frequently 

 accusing each other, and he was occupied in adjusting their difficul- 

 ties. At length he became weary of his burden, and said to his 

 people, ' I am tired of ruling over the land, and will no longer have 

 the care of it. It will be better for you, my subjects, to look after 

 your own lands, in a way to suit yourselves ; and I will take care of 

 my own.' They therefore managed their own affairs, but not long; 

 for, perceiving that the country did not prosper under this arrange- 

 ment, they restored it to their former chief. In this way, perhaps, 

 the land became the chief's."* 



CANNIBALISM. 



The Polynesians may, without injustice, be called a race of can- 

 nibals. In New Zealand, the Hervey Group, the Gambier Islands, 

 the Paumotu Archipelago, and the Marquesas, the practice is or 

 was universal, and is confessed by the natives with no apparent feel- 

 ing of shame. In the Navigator, Friendly, Society, and Sandwich 

 Islands, though not common, it was, in former days, occasionally 

 practised, and (what is the most important point) was not regarded 



* Hawaiian Spectator, vol. ii., p. 438. 

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