therto exacted from the people. However,
during the minority of his son the former king appears to have filled
the office of regent. This remarkable rule of succession was not limited
to the royal house, but prevailed also in noble families: no sooner did
a baron's wife give birth to a child than the baron was reduced to the
rank of a private man, though he continued to administer the estate for
the benefit of the infant, to whom all the outward marks of honour were
now transferred.[19]

[19] J. Cook, _Voyages_, i. 225 _sq._; W. Ellis, _op. cit._ iii.
99 _sq._ Compare J. Wilson, _op. cit._ pp. 180 _sq._, 327, 330,
333; J. Turnbull, _Voyage round the World_ (London, 1813), pp.
134, 137, 188 _sq._, 344; J. A. Moerenhout, _op. cit._ ii. 13
_sq._

Sec. 3. _The Religion of the Society Islanders_

If religion consists essentially in a fear of gods, the natives of the
Society Islands were a very religious people, for they believed in a
multitude of gods and stood in constant dread of them. "Whatever
attention," says Ellis, "the Tahitians paid to their occupations or
amusements, and whatever energies have been devoted to the prosecution
of their barbarous wars, the claims of all were regarded as inferior to
those of their religion. On this every other was dependent, while each
was alike made subservient to its support."[20] "No people in the world,
in ancient or modern times, appear to have been more superstitious than
the South Sea Islanders, or to have been more entirely under the
influence of dread from imaginary demons, or supernatural beings. They
had not only their major, but their minor demons, or spirits, and all
the minute ramifications of idolatry."[21] "Religious rites were
connected with almost every act of their lives. An _ubu_ or prayer was
offered before they ate their food, when they tilled their ground,
planted their gardens, built their houses, launched their canoes, cast
their nets, and commenced or concluded a journey. The first fish taken
periodically on their shores, together with a number of kinds regarded
as sacred, were conveyed to the altar. The first-fruits of their
orchards and gardens were also _taumaha_, or offered, with a portion of
their live-stock, which consisted of pigs, dogs, and fowls, as it was
supposed death would be inflicted on the owner or the occupant of the
land, from which the god should not receive such acknowledgment."[22]

[20] W. Ellis, _op. cit._ i.