376 
POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
(arum roots,) the finest sugar-cane, the ripest bananas, 
and even take the posts of his house for fuel to cook them 
with. Is there not a man present who actually buried 
his new canoe under the sand, to secure it from these 
desperate men 
Nothing fostered tyranny and oppression in the rulers, 
and reduced the population to a state of wretchedness, so 
much as these unjust proceedings. Those who, by habits 
of industry, or desire of comfort for themselves and 
families, might be induced to cultivate more land than 
others, were, from this very circumstance, marked out for 
despoliation. They had no redress for these wrongs, 
and therefore, rather than expose themselves to the 
mortifying humiliation of seeing their fields plundered, 
and the fruits of their labour taken to feed a useless and 
insulting band that followed the movements of the king, 
they allowed their lands to remain untilled. They pre¬ 
ferred to procure a scanty means of subsistence from 
day to day, rather than to he subjected to the insults to 
which even their industry exposed them. 
So far were these shameless extortions practised, that 
during the journey of an European through the country, 
he has been attended by a servant of the king, and when, 
in return for provisions furnished, or acts of kindness 
shewn, by the hospitable inhabitants, he has made them 
even a trifling present, it has been instantly seized by 
the vassal of the chief, who has followed him for that 
purpose. The poor people were also allowed to dispose 
of their produce to the captains or merchants that might 
visit them for the purpose of barter, but the king or chief 
frequently requested the greater part, or even the whole, 
of what they might receive in return for it. 
That they should have improved in industry, or ad- 
