346 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
to preserve the distinction of the hui arii, or reigning 
families. 
The king was supreme^ and next to him the queen. 
The brothers of the king, and his parents, were nearest in 
rank, the other members of the family taking precedence 
according to their degrees of consanguinity. The regal 
office is hereditary, and descends from the father to the 
eldest son : it is not, however, confined to the male sex; 
these islands have often been governed by a queen. 
Oberea was the queen of Tahiti when it was discovered 
by Wallis; and Aimata, the daughter of Pomare II. now 
exercises the supreme authority in Tahiti and Eimeo. 
the daughter of the king of Raiatea is also the nominal 
sovereign of the island of Huahine. 
The most singular usage, however, connected with the 
established law of primogeniture, w'hich obtained in the 
islands, was the father’s abdication of the throne on the 
birth of his son. This was an invariable, and appears to 
have been an ancient practice. If the rank of the mother was 
inferior to that of the father, the children, whether male or 
female, were destroyed ; but if the mother originally be¬ 
longed to the hui arii, or had been raised to that elevation 
on her marriage with the king, she was regarded as the 
queen of the nation. Whatever might be the age of the 
king, his influence in the state, or the political aspect of 
affairs in reference to other tribes, as soon as a son was 
born, the monarch became a subject—and the infant was 
at once proclaimed the sovereign of the people. The 
royal name was conferred upon him, and his father was 
the first to do him homage, by saluting his feet, and de¬ 
claring him king. The herald of the nation was then 
despatched round the island with the flag of the infant 
king. The banner was unfurled, and the young sove- 
