, as if he half
suspected I was some inferior sort of white man, who after all did not know much
more than a Typee. However, after a most laboured explanation of the matter, I
succeeded in making him understand the extreme difficulty of the task. Scarcely
satisfied with my apologies, however, he marched off with the superannuated
musket in something of a huff, as if he would no longer expose it to the
indignity of being manipulated by such unskilful fingers.
    During the festival, I had not failed to remark the simplicity of manner,
the freedom from all restraint, and, to a certain degree, the equality of
condition manifested by the natives in general. No one appeared to assume any
arrogant pretensions. There was little more than a slight difference in costume
to distinguish the chiefs from the other natives. All appeared to mix together
freely, and without any reserve; although I noticed that the wishes of a chief,
even when delivered in the mildest tone, received the same immediate obedience
which elsewhere would have been only accorded to a peremptory command. What may
be the extent of the authority of the chiefs over the rest of the tribe, I will
not venture to assert; but from all I saw during my stay in the valley, I was
induced to believe that in matters concerning the general welfare it was very
limited. The required degree of deference toward them, however, was willingly
and cheerfully yielded; and as all authority is transmitted from father to son,
I have no doubt that one of the effects here, as elsewhere, of high birth, is to
induce respect and obedience.
    The civil institutions of the Marquesas Islands appear to be in this, as in
other respects, directly the reverse of those of the Tahitian and Hawaiian
groups, where the original power of the king and chiefs was far more despotic
than that of any tyrant in civilised countries. At Tahiti it used to be death
for one of the inferior orders to approach, without permission, under the shadow
of the king's house; or to fail in paying the customary reverence when food
destined for the king was borne past them by his messengers. At the Sandwich
Islands, Kaahumanu, the gigantic old dowager queen - a woman of nearly four
hundred pounds weight, and who is said to be still living at Mowee - was
accustomed, in some of her terrific gusts of temper, to snatch up an
ordinary-sized man who had offended her, and snap his spine across her knee.
Incredible as this may seem, it is a fact. While at Lahainaluna - the residence
of this monstrous
