3^0 



REMARKS 



N 



T II 



Hb^« 



pRiNCi- property In thefe ifles. In the Marquefas and Eafter-ifland, there 



PLES OF 

 SOCIE- 

 TIES. 



/ 



was hardly a diflindion obfervable between the magiflrate and 



fubjed:^ they had the 



of the dignity, they had fome attend 



and were, on the arrival of ftrangers, better dreffed 



b 



their authority, if we may judge, from the few inftances, we could 

 obferve during our fhort interviews with thefe "people, feenied to 

 be more fimilar to the advice of a benevolent parent, than to the 



In the more Weliern ifles of Mai- 



imperious didates of a king. 

 licoUo, Tanna, and New-Caledonia, we obferved likewife chiefs^ 

 under the denominations Akeghee ar Areekee, but they were, upon 

 the whole, not diftinguifhed from their fubjeds, by rank or au^ 



r 



tliority, and fee.ii to enjoy only an hereditary title y and as 



the 



laws of thefe people, we are not prefump 



gh 



talk of 



thing 



which we had neither opportunities, nor time, nor fuiii 



/ 



knowledge of the language to obferve. They had plan 



in thefe ifles, and we faw that feveral fmall families cleared fpots of 

 ground for that purpofe, and it is very natural to fxippofe that they 

 likewife reap the fruits of their labours. In general it appeared to 

 us, that O-Taheitee and the clufter of high ifles in. its neighbour- 



hood, were the only fpots where civilization had made fome pro 



over-balanced by 



^ 



grefs, and where thefe advantages were not again 



defed:s in the confl:itution or government 



I cannot difmifs this 



without obferving, that tkough the |ropical ifles of the 



South 



