TENURE OF LAND. 
115 
.mg on the immense bale of cloth in which he was 
enclosed. I do not know that the kings of Tahiti 
ever experienced such treatment from their sub¬ 
jects. The kings of the former were left in this 
ludicrous and helpless situation, while the people 
travelled round the island, boxing and wrestling, 
in honour of their sovereign, throughout every 
district. 
The regal establishment was maintained by the 
produce of the hereditary districts of the reigning 
family, and the requisitions made upon the people. 
Although the authority of the king was supreme, 
and his power undisputed, yet he does not appear 
to have been considered as the absolute proprietor 
of the land, nor do the occupants seem to have 
been mere tenants at will, as was the fact in the 
Sandwich Islands. 
There were certain districts which constituted 
the patrimony of the royal family; in these they 
could walk abroad, as they were sacred lands. 
The other districts were regarded as belonging to 
their respective occupants or proprietors, who were 
generally raatiras, and whose interest in the soil 
was distinct from that of the king, and often more 
extensive. These lands they inherited from their 
ancestors, and bequeathed them to their children, 
or whomsoever they chose to select as their heirs. 
At their death the parties to whom land had been 
thus left, entered into undisturbed possession, as 
of rightful property. 
The practice of tutuing , or devising by will, was 
found to exist among them prior to the arrival of 
the Missionaries, and was employed not only in 
reference to land, but to any other kinds of pro¬ 
perty. Unacquainted with letters, they could not 
leave a written will, but, during a season of illness, 
i 2 
