212 ’ POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
though I have since heard that they were erecting 
one for the chief judges. 
No investigations or trials have ever taken place 
with “ closed doors,” but all causes are tried in 
open court. In some of the islands, the bell-man 
goes round the district, to give public notice before 
any trial takes place. Their places of justice have 
usually been the governor's house, or the open air, 
frequently the court-yard in front of the chief’s 
dwelling, an open space in the centre of the settle¬ 
ment, or near the sea-beach. A wide-spreading 
tree, or clump, is usually selected, and under its 
shade the bench is fixed, and the trial attended. 
The hour of sun-rise is usually chosen, as they 
prefer the coolness of the morning to the heat of 
noon. 
Important as this change in the civil constitu¬ 
tion was to all the great interests of the people, 
there were doubtless many who were either insen¬ 
sible of the advantages that would accrue to them¬ 
selves and their posterity, or were unable to appre¬ 
ciate their value. There were others, however, 
among different ranks in society, who thought and 
felt differently, and occasionally exhibited the high 
sense they entertained of natural and acknow¬ 
ledged rights, and the security they expected from 
the laws they had adopted. Many illustrations of 
this remark might be adduced, I shall only cite 
one that occurred in the Society Islands, and I 
simply relate, it as a fact, without offering any com¬ 
ment. I was absent at the time it occurred, and 
it was regulated entirely by the natives themselves, 
without consulting or even acquainting the Mis¬ 
sionary who was there. 
In the autumn of 1822, the queen of Tahiti, thg 
widow of Pomare, visited Hualiine. Her attend 
