1 76 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS CH. vn 



heron, and Bola-Bola a kind of kingfisher : these birds are 

 held in high respect, and are never killed or molested : they 

 are thought to be givers of good or bad fortune, but no sort 

 of worship is offered to them. 



Though I dare not assert that these people, to whom the 

 art of writing, and consequently of recording laws, etc., is 

 totally unknown, live under a regular form of government, 

 yet the subordination which takes place among them very 

 much resembles the early state of the feudal laws, by which 

 our ancestors were so long governed, a system evidently 

 formed to secure the licentious liberty of a few, while the 

 greater part of the society are unalterably immersed in the 

 most abject slavery. 



Their orders are Earee ra hie, which answers to king ; 

 earee, baron ; manahouni, vassal ; and toutou, villain. The 

 earee ra hie is always the head of the best family in the 

 country : to him great respect is paid by all ranks, but in 

 power he seemed to be inferior to several of the principal 

 earees, nor indeed did he once appear in the transaction of 

 any part of our business. Next to him in rank are the 

 earees, each of whom holds one or more of the districts into 

 which the island is divided : in Otahite there may be about 

 a hundred such districts, which are by the earees parcelled 

 out to the manahounis, each of whom cultivates his part, 

 and for the use of it owes his chief service and provisions 

 when called upon, especially when the latter travels, which he 

 constantly does, accompanied by many of his friends and 

 their families, often amounting to nearly a hundred principals, 

 besides their attendants. Inferior to the manahounis are 

 the toutous, who are almost upon the same footing as the 

 slaves in the East Indian Islands, only that they never 

 appeared transferable from one to the other. These do all 

 kinds of laborious work : till the land, fetch wood and water, 

 dress the victuals, under the direction, however, of the 

 mistress of the family, catch fish, etc. Besides these are 

 the two classes of erata and towha, who seem to answer to 

 yeomen and gentlemen, as they came between the earee and 

 manahouni : but as I was not acquainted with the existence 



