UNORGANIZED POLITY. 133 
dividual who had shewn any marked disaffection 
towards the government, or incurred the displea¬ 
sure of the king and chiefs, was usually chosen. 
The people knew this, and therefore rendered the 
most unhesitating obedience : but the subversion 
of idolatry having annihilated this feeling, many, 
free from the restraint it had imposed, seemed 
almost to refuse lawful obedience, and to with¬ 
hold rightful support. 
Their government continued in this unsettled 
state for four or five years; during which, the 
people brought provisions and supplies to the king, 
and furnished the accustomed articles for his es¬ 
tablishment, either according to arrangements made 
among themselves, or in obedience to his requisi¬ 
tions. The superior and subordinate rulers over 
the people endeavoured to preserve the peace of 
society, and promote the public welfare, by pun¬ 
ishing offenders according to the nature of their 
crimes, but without any regular or uniform pro¬ 
cedure. The only punishment inflicted was ban¬ 
ishment, and, in a few instances, seizure for theft. 
It was, however, evident that another system must 
be introduced, instead of that which, with the tabu 
and idolatry, had been abolished. 
It is a fact worthy of note, that although no 
people in the world could be more vicious than 
they were prior to their renunciation of paganism, 
yet such was the moral influence of the precepts of 
Christianity on the community at large, and conse¬ 
quently on the conduct of many who were Chris¬ 
tians only by profession, that for some time crimes 
affecting the peace of society were but few. Theft, 
to which ever since their discovery they have been 
proverbially addicted, was rarely committed. It 
was not, however, to be expected that this state 
