444 
polynp:sian researches.' 
red^ no murder having been committed in any of the 
islands since its enactment. Within two years after the 
promulgation of the Tahitian code^ four executions for 
conspiracy and treason took place. The influence of 
these appeared by no means salutary : and in the revi¬ 
sion of the laws of Tahiti in 1826, banishment for life was 
substituted as the penalty for those crimes to which 
death had before been annexed. One individual was 
sentenced to perpetual solitude, and was to have been 
furnished with a few tools, together with such seeds and 
roots as it was presumed, would, when cultivated, alford 
the means of subsistence ; but before he was actually trans¬ 
ported, circumstances occurred which induced the king 
to mitigate his sentence. It has never been intended to 
send any number of felons to the same island : hence dis¬ 
tinct and distant islands have been appropriated to the 
residence of traitors and murderers. 
The observations on this article may appear to have 
been unnecessarily extended : but the important charac¬ 
ter of the law itself, and the difference in its penalty 
from that ordinarily inflicted, have induced more length¬ 
ened remarks than I should otherwise have offered. 
Another distinguishing and important feature in their 
judicial proceedings, is, the omission of oaths, in appoint¬ 
ing the Jury, or examining witnesses. No oath is ad¬ 
ministered on any occasion : the deliberate assertion is 
received as evidence; and false evidence is regarded as 
equally criminal with false accusation, and is, I believe, 
punished accordingly. 
The second law is one of those regulations peculiar to 
particular and local communities. Their swine and their 
gardens are among their principal sources of mainte¬ 
nance and wealth. The animals are not kept in sties or 
