POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
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it superior in every respect to those by which it was pre¬ 
ceded, but because it was adopted by the people with 
whom I was most intimately connected, and received a 
greater degree of the attention of my colleague and my¬ 
self, than any of the others. It might, perhaps, have been 
abridged, or a mere enumeration of the laws might have 
furnished all the information that is interesting, yet the 
first code of laws adopted, written, and printed among a 
people, who, but a few years before, were ignorant heathen, 
lawless savages, is a document so important in the his¬ 
tory of the people, as to justify its entire insertion. The 
title is E Ture na Huahine: A Law,* or Code of Laws, 
for Huahine, caused to grow in the government or reign 
of Teriiteria, Hautia, and Mahine, subordinate (rulers)” 
and the Imprint is—Huahine, printed at the Mission 
press, 1823.” 
The following is the Introduction immediately after 
the names of the queen and two principal chiefs— 
^^From the favour of God, we have our government. 
Peace to you (People) of Huahine'^ 
LITERAL TRANSLATION OF THE LAWS OF HUAHINE, 
AND SIR CHARLES SANDER’S ISLAND. 
I. Concerning Murder. 
If parents murder their infants, or children unborn, if not the parents 
but the relatives, if not them, a stranger, or any person who shall wantonly 
commit murder, shall be punished—shall be transported to a distant land, 
uninhabited by men—such (a land) as Palmerston’s Island. There shall 
(such criminals) be left until they die, and shall never be brought back. 
H. Concerning Theft. 
If a man steal one pig, four shall he bring as a recompense, for the owner 
of the pig two, for the king two. If he have no pigs, two single canoes. 
* There is no word in their language for law. The Hebrew word has 
been introduced, as according with the genius and idiom of Tahitian better 
than any other. 
