176 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS cu. vr 
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 Haree ra hie, which answers to king; 
earee, baron; manahount, vassal; and toutow, 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 towtous, 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 
manahoum: but as I was not acquainted with the existence 
