I took advantage of his willing disposition to draw from him the historical treasures with which his memory was stored.

Here, in my own order, is what he told me during a night of conversation, interrupted only by the Hawaiian dances (_hulahula_), and by some pipes of tobacco smoked in turn, in the custom of the country.
OF GOVERNMENT AND SOCIETY WITH THE ANCIENT HAWAIIANS.
The soil was the property of the king, who reserved one part of it for himself, assigning another to the nobles, and left the rest to the first occupant.

Property, based on a possession more or less ancient, was transmitted by heritage; but the king could always dispose, according to his whims, of property of chiefs and subjects, and the chiefs had the same privilege over the people.
Taxes were not assessed on any basis.

The king levied them whenever it seemed good to him, and almost always in an arbitrary way.

The chiefs also, and the priests, received a tribute from the people.