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not think it their duty to express any dissatisfaction with the code, imperfect as it was, and they uniformly avoided expressing any opinion which might weaken the power of the king, being desirous rather to afford him every facility in the settlement of the government of the country, than to throw difficulties in his way.

In the month of May, 1819, the king, and several thousands of the people from Tahiti and Eimeo, assembled at Papaoa, for the purpose of attending the opening of the Royal Mission Chapel, and the promulgation of the new laws. The anniversary of the Tahitian Missionary Society being held at the same time, the Missionaries from the several stations, in these two islands, were then at Papaoa.

The thirteenth day of the month was appointed for this solemn national transaction; and the spacious chapel which the king had recently erected was chosen as the edifice in which this important event should take place. It was thought no desecration of a building reared for public devotion, and solemnly appropriated to the worship of the Almighty, and other purposes directly connected with the promotion of his praise, that the grave and serious engagements by which the nation agreed to regulate their social intercourse, should be ratified in a spot where they were led to expect a more than ordinary participation of the Divine benediction. During the forenoon, the chiefs and people of Tahiti and Eimeo assembled in the Royal Chapel, and about the middle of the day the king and his attendants entered. The Missionaries were also present-but, regarding it as a civil engagement, attended only as spectators. The king, however, requested Mr. Crook to solicit

the Divine blessing on the object of the meeting. He therefore read a suitable portion of the sacred volume, and implored the sanction of the King of kings upon the proceedings that were to follow. Nothing could be more appropriate than thus acknowledging the Power by whom kings reign, and seeking His blessing upon those engagements by which their public conduct was to be regulated. The blessing of the Most High having been thus sought, the king, who had previously taken his station in the central pulpit, arose, and, after viewing for a few moments the thousands of his subjects who were gathered round him, commenced the interesting proceedings of the day, by addressing Tati, the brother and successor of the late Upufara, who was the leader of the idolatrous and rebel army defeated in November, 1815. "Tati," said the king, "what is your desire? what can I do for you?" Tati, who sat nearly opposite the pulpit, arose and said, "Those are what we want -the papers you hold in your hand-the laws; give them to us, that we may have them in our hands, that we may regard them, and do what is right." The king then addressed himself to Utami, the good chief of Te Oropaa, and in an affectionate manner said, "Utami, and what is your desire?" He replied, "One thing only is desired by us all, that which Tati has expressedthe laws, which you hold in your hand." The king then addressed Arahu, the chief of Eimeo, and Veve, the chief of Taiarabu, nearly in the same manner, and they replied as the others had done. Pomare then proceeded to read and comment upon the laws respecting murder, theft, trespass, stolen property, lost property, sabbathbreaking, rebellion, marriage, adultery, the judges,

court-houses, &c., in eighteen articles. After reading and explaining the several particulars, he asked the chiefs if they approved of them. They replied aloud, "We agree to them-we heartily agree to them." The king then addressed the people, and desired them, if they approved of the laws, to signify the same by holding up their right hands. This was unanimously done, with a remarkable rushing noise, owing to thousands of arms being lifted at once. When Pomare came to the law on rebellion, stirring up war, &c. he seemed inclined to pass it over, but after a while proceeded. At the conclusion of that article, Tati was not content with signifying his approbation in the usual way only, but, standing up, he called in a spirited manner to all his people to lift up their hands again, even both hands, setting himself an example, which was universally followed. Thus all the articles were passed and approved.

The public business of the day was closed by Mr. Henry's offering a prayer unto Him by whom princes decree judgment; and the people retired to their respective dwellings.

Pomare subsequently intimated his intention of appropriating Palmerston's Island as a place of banishment for Tahitian convicts, and proposed to the Missionaries to publish his request that no vessel should remove any who might be thus exiled. The laws which the king read to the people were written by himself, and were the first written code that ever existed in the islands; he afterwards wrote out, in a fair, legible, and excellent hand, a copy for the press. Printed copies were distributed among the people, but the original manuscript, in the king's hand-writing, signed by himself, is in the possession of the London Mis

sionary Society. The laws were printed on a large sheet of paper, and not only sent to every chief and magistrate throughout both islands, but posted up in most of the public places.

The sentence to be passed on individuals who should be found guilty of many of the crimes prohibited by these laws, was left to the discretion of the judge or magistrate; but to several, the penalty of death was annexed; and, only a few months after their enactment, the sentence of capital punishment was passed on two individuals, whose names were Papahia and Horopae. They were inhabitants of the district of Atehuru, and were executed on the twenty-fifth of October, 1819, for attempting to overturn the government. Papahia had been a distinguished warrior, and was in the very prime of life. He was a man of daring character, and turbulent conduct. He came several times to my house, during our residence at Eimeo; and although, in consequence of his restless and violent behaviour, I was not prepossessed in his favour, my personal acquaintance made me feel additional interest in the melancholy fate of the first malefactor on whom the dreadful sentence of the law was inflicted. The lives of these unhappy men were not taken by thrusting a spear through the body, or beating out the brains with a club, or by decapitation, which were the former modes of punishment, but they were hanged on a cocoa-nut tree, in a conspicuous part of the district. In the year 1821, a conspiracy was formed to assassinate the king, and two men, who were proceeding to the accomplishment of their murderous purpose, were apprehended, with others concerned in the plot. The names of the two leaders were Pori and Mariri. Sentence of death was passed

upon them, and they were hanged on a rude gallows, formed by fastening a pole horizontally between two cocoa-nut trees. These are the only executions that have taken place in the islands. It is not probable that many will be thus punished. The Missionaries interceded on behalf of the culprits, and secured a mitigation of punishment for the rest of the offenders.

The judicial proceedings in the different districts of Tahiti, were divested, as much as possible, of all formality; and though some trifling irregularities, and slight embarrassments, as might be expected, were occasionally experienced, among a people totally unaccustomed to act in these matters according to any prescribed form, yet, upon the whole, the administration of justice by the native magistrates, was such as to give general satisfaction. The following account by an eyewitness of their proceedings on one of these occasions, will not be uninteresting.

"At the time appointed, a great many people, of both sexes and all ages, assembled under some very fine trees, near the queen's house. A small bench was brought for the two judges; the rest either stood or sat upon the ground, forming something less than a semicircle. We were provided with low seats near the judges. The two prisoners were seated crosslegged upon the ground, under the shade of a small tree, about twenty paces in front of the judges. They were both ill-looking men, dressed in the graceful tiputa. When all was ready to begin, one of the judges rose, and addressed the prisoners at considerable length. He explained to them the accusation which brought them there, and read to them the * Capt. G. C. Gambier, R. N.

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