chief's wealth was sometimes estimated by
the number of bales which he possessed; the more valuable sort, covered
with matting or cloth of an inferior sort, were generally hung from the
roof of his house. The manufacture of cloth was chiefly in the hands of
women; indeed it was one of their most usual employments. Even women of
high rank did not disdain this form of industry; the wives and daughters
of chiefs took a pride in manufacturing cloth of a superior quality,
excelling that produced by common women in the elegance of the patterns
or the brilliance of the dyes. Every family had a little house where the
females laboured at the making of cloth; but in addition every district
had a sort of public factory, consisting of a spacious house where
immense quantities of cloth were produced on the occasion of festivals,
the visits of great chiefs, or other solemnities. In such a factory the
women would often assemble to the number of two or three hundred, and
the monotonous din of their hammers falling on the bark was almost
deafening; it began early in the morning, only to cease at night. Yet
heard at a distance in some lonely valley the sound was not
disagreeable, telling as it did of industry and peace.[10]

[10] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 196 _sqq._; G. Forster, _Voyage
round the World_ (London, 1777), i. 276 _sq._; J. Wilson, _op.
cit._ pp. 389-392; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i. 179 _sqq._; J. A.
Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 112 _sqq._

Among the other articles manufactured by the Society Islanders before
the advent of Europeans were fine mats, baskets of many different
patterns, ropes, lines, and fishing-tackle, including nets, hooks, and
harpoons made of cane and pointed with hard wood. In every expedient for
taking fish they are said to have been exceedingly ingenious.[11] They
made bows and arrows, with which, as an amusement, they shot against
each other, not at a mark, but to see who could shoot farthest. Like the
rest of the Polynesians, they never used these weapons in war.[12]

[11] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 202 _sq._

[12] J. Wilson, _op. cit._ p. 368; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i.
217-220; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 148-150.

Society among these islanders was divided into three ranks; first the
royal family and nobility (_hui arii_); second, the landed proprietors,
or gentry and farmers (_bue raatira_); and third, the common people
(_manahune_). Of these, the landed gentry and farmers were