father. There seemed to be great distinctions of rank among the people.
There were some who had greater honour shown to them than even to the
king himself. His father had an elder sister, of equal rank to himself,
and she married a chief who came from Fejee. By him she had a son, the
silent chief Latoolibooloo, who was looked upon as a madman, and two
daughters. The king met one of these women on board the Resolution, and
would not venture to eat in her presence. On afterwards encountering
Latoolibooloo, the king bent down and touched the silent prince's feet
with the back and palms of his hand, as he was accustomed to be treated
by his subjects.

Captain Cook here observed the taboo system. If applied to places, they
may not be entered or approached; if to persons, they may not be
touched, or may not feed themselves; if to things, they may not be
touched. The system, however, did not appear to be so rigidly observed
in Tonga as in some other groups of the Pacific.

With regard to the religion of the people, Captain Cook gained very
little information, and Omai, who seems to have been especially dull of
apprehension, and never to have made inquiries of his own accord, was
very little able to help him. That great cruelty was exercised by those
in authority was evident by two or three occurrences witnessed by the
English. On one occasion, when Feenou was on board the Resolution, an
inferior chief ordered all the people to retire from the post occupied
on shore by the English. Some ventured to return, when the chief took
up a stick and beat them most unmercifully. He struck one man with so
much violence on the side of the face that the blood gushed out of his
month and nostrils, and after lying for some time motionless he was
removed in convulsions. The chief laughed when told that he had killed
the man, and seemed perfectly indifferent to the matter.

All classes, from the highest to the lowest, were found to be thieves;
and when the chiefs themselves did not steal they employed their
servants to pilfer for them. To check this propensity Captain Clerke
suggested a plan, which was adopted with good effect. Whenever any of
the lower orders were caught stealing he had their heads completely
shaved, so that they became objects of ridicule to their countrymen, and
did not again venture on board the ships.

It appeared that the larger portion of the land belonged to certain
great chiefs, and that the inferior