induce the mass of the people to revert to the notion of their own
pristine lowliness. The Otaheitan princes, on the other hand, practise
less self-denial in such imposition; or, which is perhaps more likely to
be the truth, they find their continuance in an exalted situation very
requisite to discriminate their office, which could not be inferred from
any superiority of character they possess; for, says the same account,
"the king and queen were always attended by a number of men, as
carriers, domestics, or favourites, who were raa, or sacred, living
without families, and attending only on the royal pair; and a worse set
of men the whole island does not afford for thievery, plunder, and
impurity." If this opinion be correct, one might safely infer, that the
monarchy of Otaheite is of very old standing, or, in other words, that
the royal blood is run to the dregs. And what though it be? Cannot the
pageantry of state suffice for all the ends of good government in
Otaheite, as well as any where else? It is very foolish, to say no more
of it, to be exclaiming with the poet,

But is it fit, or can it bear the shock
Of rational discussion, that a man,
Compounded and made up like other men,
Of elements tumultuous, in whom lust
And folly in as ample measure meet,
As in the bosoms of the slaves he rules,
Should he a despot absolute, and boast
Himself the only freeman of his land?

This is to overlook, entirely, the existence of certain springs in a
government, which ensure its not stopping, for a considerable time after
the corruption or even disorganization of what is apparently its head
and source of vitality. It is to imagine that a political constitution
depends for its preservation on the same identical principles which gave
it origin, and that none other can be substituted in their place,
without breaking up the whole machine. It is to forget, that after a
certain period of society, the whims and vices of the nominal chief are
of little more importance, than the movements and attitudes of a dancing
doll. "Habit," says Mr Hume, in his sensible way, "soon consolidates
what other principles of human nature had imperfectly founded; and men
once accustomed to obedience never think of departing from that path, in
which they and their ancestors have constantly trod, and to which they
are confined by so many urgent and visible motives."--E.]

Their orders are, _earee rahie_, which answers to king; _ea