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POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
2. The man who shall forsake his ship, and hide himself on shore, shall 
be immediately apprehended. The man that finds and apprehends (each 
deserter) shall receive eight dollars, if he was taken near at hand; and 
fifteen dollars, if brought from a distance. 
3. The person who shall entice any man belonging to a ship, so that he 
abandon his ship, and the man who shall hide or secrete him who shall 
so abscond, shall be tried, and (if convicted) his sentence shall be to 
make fifty fathoms of pathway or road, or to build eight yards of stone 
pier or wall. 
4. A seaman who had concealed himself on shore, and who shall be 
found after his ship has sailed, shall be brought to trial, and his sentence 
shall be to make fifty fathoms of road. 
One of the greatest sources of annoyance to the natives, 
and inconvenience to foreigners, has been the conduct of 
seamen who have absconded from their ships, or been 
turned on shore by the masters of trading vessels. To 
prevent as much as possible seamen from leaving their 
ships, this law was enacted; and by subjecting to a 
punishment with hard labour, both the deserters, and 
those who may favour their desertion or concealment, is 
adapted to answer the end proposed. 
A copy of this law, with an English translation printed 
on the same paper, is given, by a person whom the 
government appoints for that purpose, to the master 
of every vessel entering any of their harbours. The 
regulation is so just in its nature, and so salutary is its 
tendency in regard to those who visit the islands, as well 
as the community on shore, that the most ready acquies¬ 
cence in its requirements may be most reasonably 
expected. 
The people have always felt more difficulty in the 
enforcement of those regulations which refer to subjects of 
other governments residing among them, than to the na- 
