FOREIGN SEAMEN. 
211 
The above regulations for ships entering the harbour of 
Huahine, having been submitted to me, I deem them just 
and equitable, and have transmitted a copy of the same to 
my government, together with this flag, red above , white in 
the middle , and red below , proposed for the Georgian and 
Society Islands. 
Given under my hand on board H.M. ship Satellite, at 
Raiatea, this 17th day of March, 1829. 
I. LAWS, Commander. 
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 natives of their own islands. 
The sentencing of such sailors as may desert from 
their ships, or may be found on shore after their 
vessels have sailed, to hard labour on the public 
roads or quays, is probably the most effectual 
plan they could have adopted to deter seamen 
from the very frequent practice of forsaking their 
vessels. 
The promulgation of an official printed code 
among the inhabitants of these islands, not only 
formed an epoch in their history, but introduced 
a new order of feeling and action in their civil 
relations, as a community governed by laws which 
they had deliberately and unitedly adopted. Per¬ 
spicuity and plainness had been studied in the 
framing of their laws, and in several instances we 
should have preferred even greater explicitness. The 
public administration of justice, under the former 
system, had been exceedingly unceremonious and 
simple; and although the change now introduced 
had rendered it rather more complex, it was 
neither intricate nor perplexing. In several of the 
islands, I believe, court-houses have been built. 
There were none, however, in Huahine when I left, 
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