offered in sacrifice, were tabu to the use of the gods and the men; hence the women were, except in cases of particular indulgence, restricted from using them. Particular places, as those frequented by the king for bathing, were also rendered permanently tabu.

Sometimes an island or a district was tabued, when no canoe or person was allowed to approach it. Particular fruits, animals, and the fish of certain places, were occasionally tabu for several months from both men and

women.

The seasons generally kept tabu were, on the approach of some great religious ceremony, immediately before going to war; and during the sickness of chiefs. Their duration was various, and much longer in ancient than modern times. Tradition states, that in the days of Umi, there was a tabu kept thirty years, during which the men were not allowed to trim their beards, &c. Subsequently there was one kept five years. Before the reign of Tamehameha, forty days was the usual period; during it, ten or five days, and sometimes one day.

The tabu seasons were either common or strict. During a common tabu, the men were only required to abstain from their usual avocations, and attend at the heiau when the prayers were offered every morning and evening. But during the season of strict tabu, every fire and light on the island or district must be extinguished; no canoe must be launched on the water, no person must bathe; and, except those whose attendance was required at the temple, no individual must be seen out of doors; no dog must bark, no pig must grunt, no cock must crow,-or the tabu would be broken,

and fail to accomplish the object designed. On these occasions they tied up the mouths of the dogs and pigs, and put the fowls under a calabash, or fastened a piece of cloth over their eyes. All the common people prostrated themselves, with their faces touching the ground, before the sacred chiefs, when they walked out, particularly during tabu; and neither the king nor the priests were allowed to touch any thing, even their food was put into their mouths by another person.

The tabu was imposed either by proclamation, when the crier or herald of the priests went round, generally in the evening, requiring every light to be extinguished, the path by the sea to be left for the king, the paths inland to be left for the gods, &c. The people, however, were generally prepared, having had previous warning; though this was not always the case. Sometimes it was laid on by fixing certain marks called unu unu, the purport of which was well understood, on the places or things tabued. When the fish of a certain part are tabued, a small pole is fixed in the rocks on the coast, in the centre of the place, to which is tied a bunch of bamboo leaves, or a piece of white cloth. A cocoa-nut leaf is tied to the stem of a tree, when the fruit is tabued. The hogs which were tabu, having been devoted to the gods, had a piece of cinet wove through a perforation in one of their ears.

The prohibitions and requisitions of the tabu were strictly enforced, and every breach of them punished with death, unless the delinquents had some very powerful friends who were either priests or chiefs. They were generally offered in sacrifice, strangled, or despatched with a club or a stone within the pre

cincts of the heiau, or they were burnt, as stated by Miomioi.

An institution so universal in its influence, and so inflexible in its demands, contributed very materially to the bondage and oppression of the natives in general. The king, sacred chiefs, and priests, appear to have been the only persons to whom its application was easy; the great mass of the people were at no period of their existence exempt from its influence, and no circumstance in life could excuse their obedience to its demands. The females in particular felt all its humiliating and degrading force. From its birth, the child, if a female, was not allowed to be fed with a particle of food that had been kept in the father's dish, or cooked at his fire; and the little boy, after being weaned, was fed with his father's food, and, as soon as he was able, sat down to meals with his father, while his mother was not only obliged to take her's in an outhouse, but was interdicted from tasting the kind of which he ate. It is not surprising that the abolition of the tabu, effecting for them an emancipation so complete, and an amelioration so important, should be a subject of constant gratulation; and that every circumstance tending in the smallest degree to revive the former tabu should be viewed with the most distressing apprehensions. The only tabu they now have is the Sabbath, which they call the La tabu, (day sacred,) and to its extension and perpetuity those who understand it seem to have no objection. Philanthropy will rejoice that their fears respecting the former are not likely to be realized, for should Christianity not be embraced by some, and only nominally professed by others, so sensible are the great body of the people of the miseries of the tabu, that it is

very improbable it will ever be re-established among them. On the other hand, there is every reason to hope that pure Christianity, which imposes none but moral restrictions, and requires no appropriations but such as it will conduce to their own happiness to make, will eventually pervade every portion of the community; and that while it teaches them to render a reasonable homage and obedience to the only living and true God, and prepares them for the enjoyment of his presence in a future state, it will elevate the degraded classes, especially the females,* to the rank and influence for which they were designed, and render their domestic society as rational and happy, as under the tabu it was abject and wretched.

*Their degraded condition appears to have attracted the notice of the intelligent voyagers by whom the islands were discovered; for, speaking of the Sandwich Islanders, Captain King, in his Continuation of Cook's Voyages, remarks, "It must, however, be observed, that they fall very short of the other islanders, in that best test of civilization, the respect paid to the women. Here they are not only deprived of the privilege of eating with the men, but the best sorts of food are tabooed, or forbidden them:" and adds, "In their domestic life, they appear to live almost entirely by themselves; and though we did not observe any instances of personal ill-treatment, yet it is evident they had little regard or attention paid them." Cook's Voyages, vol. iii. pagè 130.

CHAP. XIV.

Traditions connected with the Northern Part of Kohala Methods of procuring Sandal Wood— Manufacture of Salt at TowaihaeVisit to Waimea-Ascent of Mouna-Kea- Arrival of Messrs. Bishop and Goodrich at Kairua-Erection of a Place of WorshipObservance of the Sabbath --Maritime Character of the PeopleGovernment of the Islands-Hereditary Rank-Tenure of Lands —Revenue and Laws-Several of the Party embark for Oahu.

HAVING seen the most remarkable places in the village, we took leave of Miomioi, and proceeded in a N.N.W. direction. The soil was fertile, and vegetation abundant. The coast towards the N. W. point of the island is frequently broken by snug little bays or inlets, which are invaluable to the inhabitants, on account of the facilities they afford for fishing. The tract we passed over to-day seemed more populous than that through which we had travelled yesterday, but we found most of the villages destitute of inhabitants, except a few women who had charge of some of the houses. On inquiry we learned, that a short time ago the people of Kohala had received orders from the king to provide a certain quantity of sandal wood, and that they were absent in the mountains cutting it.