14 
SANDWICH ISLANDS. 
jured by drought. The king- instantly despatched a chief 
with her to see if the thing was true, and, if so, to reprimand 
the oppressor, and see that the water was duly conveyed 
to the woman’s ground. This was immediately done; the 
distance the chief had to go being five miles; but the hesi¬ 
tating to do the king’s bidding seems never to have been 
contemplated by the Eries. Besides their office as coun¬ 
sellors, they were charged with seeing the king’s orders or 
decrees put in execution—the first and simplest office of 
a judge. Each man possessed the power of life and death 
over his children. The chiefs usually had three or four 
wives ; the kanakas but one : divorce was practised, but was 
not common. 
It does not appear certain that the punishment of death 
was frequent, or that any very severe punishment was ever 
inflicted at all. In cases, however, where it might have been 
incurred, such as murder, which was very rare, there were 
appointed cities of refuge, where the offender remained in 
perfect security. In time of war these cities of refuge, the 
thick walls of which still remain in Hawaii, were surrounded 
at some distance by sticks of the dracaena, the emblem of 
peace, to which were attached little white cloths or tufts 
of dogs’ hair: if the vanquished, escaping from the field of 
battle, ran towards these cities, and could only reach the 
