There was a Standing Army, and he was the head of that; an Army of 114 privates under command of 27 Generals and a Field Marshal.

There was a proud and ancient Hereditary Nobility.

There was still one other asset.

This was the tabu--an agent endowed with a mysterious and stupendous power, an agent not found among the properties of any European monarch, a tool of inestimable value in the business.

Liholiho was headmaster of the tabu.
The tabu was the most ingenious and effective of all the inventions that has ever been devised for keeping a people's privileges satisfactorily restricted.
It required the sexes to live in separate houses.