THE TABU. 
387 
done at the instance of the civil authorities; and 
persons called kiaimoku, island keepers, a kind of 
police officers, were always appointed by the king 
to see that the tabu was strictly observed. 
The antiquity of the tabu was equal to the other 
branches of that superstition of which it formed so 
component a part, and its application was both 
general and particular, occasional and permanent. 
The idols, temples, persons, and names of the 
king, and members of the reigning family; the 
persons of the priests; canoes belonging to the 
gods; houses, clothes, and mats of the king and 
priests; and the heads of men who were the de¬ 
votees of any particular idol,—were always tabu, 
or sacred. The flesh of hogs, fowls, turtle, and 
several other kinds of fish, cocoa-nuts, and almost 
every thing ofFered in sacrifice, were tabu to the 
use of the gods and the men; hence the women 
were, except in cases of particular indulgence, re¬ 
stricted from using them. Particular places, as 
those frequented by the king for bathing, were 
also rendered permanently tabu. 
Sometimes an island or a district was tabued, 
when no canoe or person was allowed to approach 
it. Particular fruits, animals, and the fish of 
certain places, were occasionally tabu for several 
months from both men and women. 
The seasons generally kept tabu were, on the 
approach of some great religious ceremony; im¬ 
mediately before going to war; and, during the 
sickness of chiefs. Their duration was various, 
and much longer in ancient than modern times. 
Tradition states, that in the days ofUmi there was 
a tabu kept thirty years, during which the men 
were not allowed to trim their beards, &c. Sub¬ 
sequently, there was one kept five years. Before 
