178 GENERAL ACCOUNT OF SOUTH SEA ISLANDS cu. vir 
It is not to be expected that in a government of this 
kind justice can be properly administered, we saw indeed 
no signs of punishment during our stay. Tupia, however, 
always insisted upon it that theft was punished with death, 
and smaller crimes in proportion. All punishments, how- 
ever, were the business of the injured party, who, if superior 
to him who committed the crime, easily executed them by 
means of his more numerous attendants; equals seldom 
chose to molest each other, unless countenanced by their 
superiors, who assisted them to defend their unjust acquisi- 
tions. The chiefs, however, to whom in reality all kinds 
of property belong, punish their dependents for crimes 
committed against each other, and the dependents of others, 
if caught doing wrong within their districts. 
