Page:Journal of the Right Hon. Sir Joseph Banks.djvu/234

176 heron, and Bola-Bola a kind of kingfisher: these birds are held in high respect, and are never killed or molested: they are thought to be givers of good or bad fortune, but no sort of worship is offered to them.

Though I dare not assert that these people, to whom the art of writing, and consequently of recording laws, etc., is totally unknown, live under a regular form of government, yet the subordination which takes place among them very much resembles the early state of the feudal laws, by which our ancestors were so long governed, a system evidently formed to secure the licentious liberty of a few, while the greater part of the society are unalterably immersed in the most abject slavery.

Their orders are Earee ra hie, which answers to king; earee, baron; manahouni, vassal; and toutou, villain. The earee ra hie is always the head of the best family in the country: to him great respect is paid by all ranks, but in power he seemed to be inferior to several of the principal earees, nor indeed did he once appear in the transaction of any part of our business. Next to him in rank are the earees, each of whom holds one or more of the districts into which the island is divided: in Otahite there may be about a hundred such districts, which are by the earees parcelled out to the manahounis, each of whom cultivates his part, and for the use of it owes his chief service and provisions when called upon, especially when the latter travels, which he constantly does, accompanied by many of his friends and their families, often amounting to nearly a hundred principals, besides their attendants. Inferior to the manahounis are the toutous, who are almost upon the same footing as the slaves in the East Indian Islands, only that they never appeared transferable from one to the other. These do all kinds of laborious work: till the land, fetch wood and water, dress the victuals, under the direction, however, of the mistress of the family, catch fish, etc. Besides these are the two classes of erata and towha, who seem to answer to yeomen and gentlemen, as they came between the earee and manahouni: but as I was not acquainted with the existence