432 
MISSIONARY TOUR 
by one, to hold both hands, with the fingers spread out, 
jover the dish, while the priest or the chief looks stead¬ 
fastly at the face of the water; and it is said, that 
when the person, who has committed the crime, spreads 
his hands over the vessel, the water trembles. Pro¬ 
bably conscious guilt, and superstitious dread, may 
make the hands of the culprit shake, and occasion the 
tremulous appearance of the water in which they are 
reflected. No unnecessary delays take place in the 
redress of grievances, or the administration of justice. 
Ī was once sitting with Karaimoku, when a poor woman 
came to complain of the chief of her district, who, she 
said, had kept the water running through his own 
plantation for several days, while the potatoes and 
taro in her garden were parched up with drought. 
After making a few inquiries, he called Kaiakoiri, one 
of his favourite chiefs, and said, “Go with this woman ; 
and, if the chief has kept back the water, open the 
channels, and let it flow over her field immediately.” 
The chief girded up his maro , and, followed by the 
woman, set off for the district in which she resided.— 
No lawyers are employed to conduct their public 
trials; every man advocates his own cause, usually 
sitting cross-legged before the judge ; and I have often 
been pleased with the address the different parties have 
displayed in exhibiting, or enforcing their respective 
claims. 
There is no national council, neither have the people 
any voice in the proceedings of government. But the 
king, though accountable to no one for the measures 
he adopts, seldom acts, in any affair of importance, 
without the advice of his confidential chiefs. These 
counsellors are in no degree responsible for the advice 
