120 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
For treason, rebellion, or withholding supplies* 
individuals were liable to banishment, and confis¬ 
cation of property. The king had the prerogative 
of nominating his successor, but could not appro¬ 
priate the lands of the exile to his own use. The 
removal of a chief of high rank, or of extensive in¬ 
fluence, was seldom attempted, unless the measure 
was approved by the other chiefs. The sovereign 
was, therefore, more desirous to conciliate their 
esteem, and engage their co-operation, than to 
prejudice them against his person or measures. 
As he had no permanent armed force at his dis¬ 
posal, he could not, on every occasion, accomplish 
his wishes ; and, at times, when he has issued his 
mandate for the banishment of a raatira, if the 
other raatiras deemed his expulsion unwarrantable, 
they have desired him to keep possession of his 
lands, and then, remonstrating with the king, have 
declared their determination to maintain the cause 
of the injured party, even by force of arms. The 
extent of power possessed by the raatiras, in the 
number of their tenantry and dependants, was 
one of the greatest sources of embarrassment to 
the government, whose measures were only regu¬ 
lated by the will of the ruler, or the exigencies of 
the state. 
In the division of their country, the natives 
appear to have had a remarkable predilection for 
the number eight. Almost every island, whatever 
its size, is divided into eight districts, and the 
inhabitants into an equal number of maataina, or 
divisions. In each district the power of the chief 
was supreme, and greater than that which the king 
exercised over the whole. This power extended 
to the persons and lives, as well as the property, of 
the people. 
