176 POLYNESIAN RESEARCHES. 
the authority of the queen, governors, and chiefs. 
They were subsequently printed, and circulated in 
every part of the islands. 
In a letter which Mr. Barff transmitted with a 
printed copy, speaking of the laws, he remarks, 
“¢ You will find them, in every material point, the 
same as when you left the islands!” I imsert a 
literal translation of this code, not because it was 
the last promulgated, nor that I consider it supe- 
rior in every respect to those by which it was pre- 
ceded, but because it was adopted by the people 
with whom I was most intimately connected, and 
received a greater degree of the attention of my 
colleague and myself, than any of the others. It 
might, perhaps, have been abridged, or a mere 
enumeration of the laws might have furnished 
all the information that is interesting ; yet the first 
code of laws adopted, written, and printed among 
a people, who, but a few years before, were igno- 
rant heathen, and lawless savages, is a document 
so important in the history of the people, as to 
justify its entire insertion.. The title is & Ture na 
Huahine: “A Law,* or Code of Laws, for Hua- 
hine, caused to grow in the government or reign of 
of Teriiteria, Hautia, and Mahine, subordinate 
(rulers)’” and the Imprint is—‘* Huahine, printed 
at the Mission Press, 1823.” 
The following is the Introduction immediately 
after the names of the queen and two principal 
chiefs— 
‘< From the favour of chp we have our govern- 
ment. Peuce to you ( People ) of Huahine.” 
* There is no word in their language for law. The 
Hebrew word has been introduced, as according with the 
genius and idiom of Tahitian better than any other. 
