46 NATUEAL HISTORY OF HAWAII. 



the sick sometimes left to die of neglect or, less frequently, were put to death 

 by their relatives. 



Descent of Rank. 



AVhile the descent of rank through the female line gave women a place of 

 unquestioned importance in their social scheme and often elevated her to the 

 hiuhest positions in the political order, it did not save her from certain forms 

 of social degradation directed irrevocably at all her sex. For example, her sex 

 was excluded from the interior of their chief heiaus. At lurth she was more un- 

 welcome than her brother and more lialile to be summarily sent to the grave. 

 She was the object of the most oppressive of the regulations of the tabu system. 

 She must not eat with men or even taste food from an oven that had been used 

 in preparing food for them. She was not allowed in the men's eating houses, 

 and several of tlie choicer food products of the islands Avere absolutely forbidden 

 her. Such delicacies, for example, as turtle, pork, certain kinds of fish, 

 cocoanuts and l:)ananas, were reserved by the tabu for the exclusive use of the 

 male sex. But as a sort of compensation the men attended to the preparation 

 and cooking of the food, and women were allowed the privilege of accompanying 

 and aiding their husbands and brothers in battle They could manufacture 

 bark cloth without fear of competition by the men, and they could engage in 

 the practice of medicine, as they understood it, on equal terms with the sterner 

 sex. 



The Tabu. 



Reference has just been made to their tabu system. A cursory examination 

 of it will show what a far-reaching, serious and exceedingly complicated system 

 of penal exactions and regulations it was. No one, not even the king, was alto- 

 gether free from its influence, and the common people were made to bow to its 

 dictation at every turn of their daily lives. As an institution, the system was 

 both religious and political, in that the violation of the tabu ^ was a sin as 

 well as a crime. As a punishment for its infraction the offender was liable to 

 lu'i ng down the wrath of the gods, and they were numerous, as well as bring 

 al)()ut his own death. Avhich was often inflicted in an exceedingly cruel and bar- 

 lifirous manner. This extraordinary institution, although common throughout 

 Polynesia, was worked out to a finer detail, and more sternly enforced in Hawaii, 

 perhaps, than in any of the Pacific islands. For the present purj^ose it would be 

 tedious to sketch the system in anything more than a general way. Suffice to 

 say that the tabu was the supreme law of the land. In its final analysis it was a 

 system of religious prohibition founded on fear and superstition, the interpreta- 

 tion and use of which was in the hands of a ]iowerful and unscrupulous priest- 

 hood, the kahunas, who in their i)almy days were supported with all the physical 

 power that the kings and influential chiefs could bring to bear. 



Some of the tabus were fixed and permanent, being well understood by all 

 the people. Many such there were relating to the seasons, to the gods and to 



^ That which was forbidden. 



