142 ' POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
upon them, and they were hanged on a rude 
gallows, formed by fastening a pole horizontally 
between two cocoa-nut trees. These are the only 
executions that have taken place in the islands. 
It is not probable that many will be thus punished. 
The Missionaries interceded on behalf of the 
culprits, and secured a mitigation of punishment 
for the rest of the offenders. 
The judicial proceedings in the different dis¬ 
tricts of Tahiti, were divested, as much as pos¬ 
sible, of all formality; and though some trifling 
irregularities, and slight embarrassments, as might 
be expected, were occasionally experienced, among 
a people totally unaccustomed to act in these mat¬ 
ters according to any prescribed form, yet, upon 
the whole, the administration of justice by the 
native magistrates, was such as to give general 
satisfaction. The following account by an eye¬ 
witness* of their proceedings on one of these 
occasions, will not be uninteresting. 
“ At the time appointed, a great many people, 
of both sexes and all ages, assembled under some 
very fine trees, near the queen’s house. A small 
bench was brought for the two judges; the rest 
either stood or sat upon the ground, forming 
something less than a semicircle. We were pro¬ 
vided with low seats near the judges. The two 
prisoners were seated crosslegged upon the 
ground, under the shade of a small tree, about 
twenty paces in front of the judges. They were 
both ill-looking men, dressed in the graceful tiputa. 
When all was ready to begin, one of the judges 
rose, and addressed the prisoners at considerable 
length. He explained to them the accusation 
which brought them there, and read to them the 
* Capt. G. C. Gambler, R. N. 
