tones, bearing
marks of antiquity that threw the air of an old family mansion
around the whole, were regularly hewn and joined with the
greatest nicety, many which I measured being from four to six
feet in length, nearly as wide, and two or more deep" (_Visit to
the South Seas_, i. 267 _sq._).

Sec. 6. _Social Ranks, Taboo_

Socially the Marquesans were divided into chiefs or nobles and
commoners; but the chiefs seem to have possessed very little authority,
and to have received few outward marks of deference and respect. A
monarchical government in any proper sense of the word was unknown.[57]
The power of the chiefs, such as it was, rested mainly on their superior
wealth, particularly on their landed property; for the larger their
estates, the greater the number of the tenants whose services they could
command. Hence the government has been called aristocratic and compared
to the feudal system.[58] In a fruitful season the chiefs had a right to
a fourth part of the produce, and in other seasons a share according to
circumstances. Their dignity was hereditary.[59] There was no general
government of the archipelago as a whole. Each island was quite
independent of all the rest; and in every island there were several
independent tribes, which were generally at war with each other.[60]

[57] Krusenstern, _op. cit._ i. 165; Langsdorff, i. 112 _sq._;
Fleurieu, _op. cit._ i. 132-134; Porter, _op. cit._ ii. 64;
Melville, _Typee_, p. 199; Vincendon-Dumoulin et C. Desgraz,
_op. cit._ p. 225; Eyriaud des Vergnes, _op. cit._ pp. 24 _sq._

[58] Mathias G----, _op. cit._ 101 _sq._

[59] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ p. 80.

[60] Lisiansky, _op. cit._ pp. 79 _sq._; Clavel, _op. cit._ p.
62.

A powerful instrument in the hands of the nobles was the taboo or
_tapu_, which, though it seems to have been originally a religious
institution,[61] was turned to political and economic account by the
chiefs and priests acting in conjunction. One of our best authorities on
the Marquesans describes the institution as a tool of despotism for the
gratification of the passions and caprices of such as could wield
it.[62] But this is a somewhat one-sided and imperfect view to take of
its scope. There is no doubt, as other good authorities on the
Marquesans have pointed out, that in the absence of a strong government
which could maintain order and protect life and property, the taboo to a
great exte