POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
319 
sounding, and the Areois, attended by their chiefs who acted 
as their prompter^ appeared on a stage erected for the 
purpose_, with their wild distortions of person^ antic ges¬ 
tures^ painted bodies, and vociferated songs, mingling with 
the sound of the drum and the flute, the dashing of the 
sea, and the rolling and breaking of the surf, on the ad¬ 
jacent reef; the whole must have presented a ludicrous 
imposing spectacle, accompanied with a confusion of 
sight and sound, of which it is not very easy to form an 
adequate idea. 
The above were the principal occupations of the Areois; 
and in the constant repetition of these, often obscene 
exhibitions, they passed their lives, strolling from the 
habitation of one chief to that of another, or sailing 
among the different islands of the group. The farmers 
did not in general much respect them; but the chiefs, 
and those addicted to pleasure, held them in high esti¬ 
mation, furnishing them with liberal entertainment, and 
sparing no property to detain them. This often proved 
the cause of most unjust and cruel oppression to the 
poor cultivators. When a party of Areois arrived in a 
district, in order to provide a daily sumptuous enter¬ 
tainment for them, the chief would send his servants 
to the best plantations in the neighbourhood; and 
these grounds, without any ceremony, they plundered 
of whatever was fit for use. Such lawless acts of 
robbery were repeated every day, so long as the Areois 
continued in the district; and when they departed, the 
gardens often exhibited a scene of desolation and ruin, 
that, but for the influence of the chiefs, would have 
brought fearful vengeance upon those who had occa¬ 
sioned it. 
A number of distinct classes prevailed among the 
