THE TABU. 285 



all other labour. In this manner they travelled full speed at 

 the rate of more than five miles an hour. Other carriers, with 

 a considerable retinue, ran alongside for the relief of their tired 

 comrade, and at each relay royalty never placed its foot upon 

 the ground, but vaulted over the head of the exhausted carrier 

 upon the shoulders of his successor, who instantly proceeded on 

 his journey at a sharp trot. 



In the Friendly Archipelago the Tui Tonga, a sacred 

 personage descending in a direct line from one of the chief 

 Polynesian gods, enjoyed divine honours, which were paid him 

 not only bj" his countrymen, but even by part of Samoa and the 

 Feejee Islands. The highest nobles were obliged to sit down when 

 he passed ; a mark of reverence which they themselves exacted 

 from the meanest peasant. 



An etiquette as severe and circumstantial as that which 

 prescribes the courtly forms existing among the most civilised 

 people of Asia or Europe, served to maintain the wide line of 

 demarcation which separated the lords of the land from the 

 common artisans and cultivators of the soil: and the strange 

 superstition of the Tabu, one of the most effectual instruments 

 of government ever invented by man, still further secured the 

 willing obedience of the people. 



In general the Tabu signified a proliibition. It interdicted 

 the visiting of certain spots, the use of certain articles of food, 

 the touching of certain objects, the use of certain words, the 

 performance of certain actions, and he who, for instance, 

 touched the dead body of a chieftain was subjected during 

 several months to a tabu, and was then not allowed to carry 

 his victuals to his mouth with his own hands. When hunoTv 

 and no one near at hand to feed him, he was obliged to creep 

 on all fours and seize his victuals with his lips. 



The Tabu spread its influence over every occurrence of life. 

 It was political or religious, general or individual, of limited 

 duration or perpetual. Sometimes it proceeded from the whim 

 of a chieftain, or the caprice of a priest ; sometimes it appeared 

 as a measure of general utility, and then again as a protection 

 for individual property ; sometimes it extended over a whole 

 people, and in other cases was limited to a single individual. 

 Its yoke lay particularly heavy on the women, whom it deprived 

 of many enjoyments, and subjected to many irksome restric- 



