310 HAWAIIAN ROMANCE OF LAIEIKAWAI [ETH. ANN. 88 
Two things result as a consequence of the taboo right in the hands 
of a chief. In the first place, the effort is constantly to keep before 
his following the exclusive position of the chief and to emphasize 
in every possible way his divine character as descended from a god. 
Such is the meaning of the insignia of rank—in Hawaii, the taboo 
staff which warns men of his neighborhood, the royal feather cloak, 
the high seat apart in the double canoe, the head of the feast, the 
special apparel of his followers, the size of his house and of his war 
canoe, the superior workmanship and decoration of all his equipment, 
since none but the chief can command the labor for their execution. 
In the second place, this very effort to aggrandize him above his fel- 
lows puts every material advantage in the hands of the chief. The 
taboo means that he can command, at the community expense, the 
best of the food supply, the most splendid ornaments, equipment, 
and clothing. He is further able, again at the community expense, 
to keep dependent upon himself, because fed at his table, a large 
following, all held in duty bound to carry out his will. Even the 
land was, in Hawaii and other Polynesian communities, under the 
control of the chief, to be redistributed whenever a new chief came 
into power. The taboo system thus became the means for economic 
distribution, for the control of the relation between the sexes, and for 
the preservation of the dignity of the chief class. As such it consti- 
tuted as powerful an instrument for the control of the labor and 
wealth of a community and the consequent enjoyment of personal 
ease and luxury as was ever put into the hands of an organized upper 
class. It profoundly influenced class distinctions, encouraged exclu- 
siveness and the separation of the upper ranks of society from the 
lower. 
1Keaulumoku’s descripticn of a Hawaiian chief (Islander, 1875) gives a good idea of 
the distinction felt between the classes: 
““A well-supplied dish is the wooden dish, 
The high-raftered sleeping-house with shelves ; 
The long eating-house for women. 
The rushes are spread down, upon them is spread the mat, 
They lie on their backs, with heads raised in dignity, 
The fly brushers wave to and fro at the door; the door is shut, the black tapa is 
drawn up. 
“ Haste, hide a little in refreshing sleep, dismiss fatigue. 
They sleep by day in the silence where noise is forbidden. 
If they sleep two and two, double is their sleep. 
Enjoyable is the fare of the large-handed man. 
In parrying the spear the chief is vigorous; the breaking of points is sweet. 
Delightful is the season of fish, the season of food; when one is filled with fish, when 
one is filled with food. 
Thou art satisfied with food, O thou common man, 
To be satisfied with land is for the chief.” 
Compare the account of the Fiji chief in Williams and Calvert, 1, 33-42. 
