[Footnote 190:  Cantava gives us the same account of the profound submission of the Caroline islanders, to the orders of the Tamole.  “Ils recoivent ses ordres avec le plus profond respect.  Ses paroles sont autant d’oracles, qu’ on revere.”—­Lettres Edifiantes & Curieuses, tom. xv. p. 312.—­D.]

Though some of the more potent chiefs may vie with the king in point of actual possessions, they fall very short in rank, and in certain marks of respect, which the collective body have agreed to pay the monarch.  It is a particular privilege annexed to his sovereignty, not to be punctured nor circumcised, as all his subjects are.  Whenever he walks out, every one whom he meets must sit down till he has passed.  No one is allowed to be over his head; on the contrary, all must come under his feet, for there cannot be a greater outward mark of submission, than that which is paid to the sovereign, and other great people of these islands, by their inferiors.  The method is this; the person who is to pay obeisance, squats down before the chief, and bows the head to the sole of his foot, which, when he sits, is so placed, that it can be easily come at, and having tapped, or touched it with the under and upper side of the fingers of both hands, he rises up and retires.  It should seem that the king cannot refuse any one who chooses to pay him this homage, which is called moe moea; for the common people would frequently take it into their heads to do it when he was walking, and he was always obliged to stop, and hold up one of his feet behind him, till they had performed the ceremony.  This, to a heavy unwieldy man, like Poulaho, must be attended with some trouble and pain; and I have sometimes seen him make a run, though very unable, to get out of the way, or to reach a place where he might conveniently sit down.  The hands, after this application of them to the chief’s feet, are, in some cases, rendered useless for a time; for, until they be washed, they must not touch any kind of food.  This interdiction, in a country where water is so scarce, would seem to be attended with some inconvenience, but they are never at a loss for a succedaneum; and a piece of any juicy plant, which they can easily procure immediately, being rubbed upon them, this serves for the purpose of purification, as well as washing them with water.  When the hands are in this state, they call it taboo rema. Taboo, in general, signifies forbidden, and rema is their word for hand.

When the taboo is incurred, by paying obeisance to a great personage, it is thus easily washed off.  But, in some other cases, it must necessarily continue for a certain time.  We have frequently seen women, who have been taboo rema, fed by others.  At the expiration of the time, the interdicted person washes herself in one of their baths, which are dirty holes, for the most part, of brackish water.  She then waits upon the king, and, after making her obeisance