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up as boundaries of their Estates, not to pay devotion to but to remind passengers below & of equal rank to the Posessor and owner ofthat land, to strip the Cloths off their shoulders & heads, as they pass by in Compliment to the Owner — All ranks of People must pay this Homage as they Pass the land belonging to the Earee da hye or King — The Etee or Image denoting the Kings land is remarkably larger then the Common size, and the Towhas or Ratirras land is known by a Number of little White Flags being fixed in different parts beside the Etee — any neglect or refusal of these Honors are the occasion of Disputes and often are the occasion of Wars or Houshold Broils between the partys — if the owner is a Minor, the affront is the greater, the Mother instantly applys the Sharks tooth to Her head in Grief that Her Child should be insulted, & the Father flys to strip by force those who have offended. If the offender makes a Concession by offering a Plantation leaf and declaring their Ignorance, the Matter is settled but if they continue obstinate Blows ensue which increase as the Friends of each party become acquainted with the affair, who repair Armd to the place and the Battle becomes general and often ends with the loss of some lives, and often involvs whole Districts in a War With each other, and a Chief and his people may be driven from the land through the means of a quarrel arising from the neglect or refusing to pay the proper Compliment to a poor Mans Child, tho the Father might have been beaten with impunity by one who might quarrel with Him, but no Man must presume to treat the Heirs of large estates with such contempt or neglect on pain of Death and such insults often end in the total extripation of one of the Familys concernd, it being deemd Blasphemy to Call them by a Wrong Name.
Their Chiefs are accounted the Head not only of the people but of the Priests, and evry other Society that are instituted amongst them and being accounted more then merely their superiors; none refuse to pay them the proper Homage and they are always particular in performing their part strictly where it is due; evry Chief paying that Homage to the Child of another.
They have few law disputes; and Private disputes between Men relative to themselves only seldom produce a Blow, and I cannot say that ever I saw a Blow given in consequence of a quarrel which did not arise from such grounds as before discribed.
If any dispute should happen about the boundarys of their land, as they have No Records nor any deeds of Gift they always refer to
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Indigenous Histories |  |
© Derived from the 1935 Print Edition edited by Owen Rutter, page 193, 2004
Published by kind permission of the Library
To cite this page use: https://paulturnbull.org/project/southseas/journals/-morrison-065.html