The form of government in the large Polynesian groups was monarchical and aristocratic. When Captain Wallis first landed on Tahiti, a queen reigned over the beautiful island, and when Cook discovered the Sandwich Archipelago a succession of kings had long ruled over Hawaii. The genealogy of the great nobles was traced back as far as the remotest periods of their legendary history, and in some islands the kings, as in the old times of Greece, derived their origin in a direct line from the gods, so that religion lent its aid to secure their authority by the prestige of birth. Their person was sacred, none of the lower classes was allowed to touch them, and he who should have ventured to cast his shadow over their path would have been punished with death. Whenever the king or queen appeared in public, they were always carried on the shoulders of men, whose honourable office exonerated them from all other labour. In this manner they travelled full speed at the rate of more than five miles an hour. Other carriers, with a considerable retinue, ran alongside for the relief of their tired comrade, and at each relay royalty never placed its foot upon the ground, but vaulted over the head of the exhausted carrier upon the shoulders of his successor, who instantly proceeded on his journey at a sharp trot. In the Friendly Archipelago the Tui Tonga, a sacred personage descending in a direct line from one of the chief Polynesian gods, enjoyed divine honours, which were paid him not only by his countrymen, but even by part of Samoa and the Feejee Islands. The highest nobles were obliged to sit down when he passed; a mark of reverence which they themselves exacted from the meanest peasant. An etiquette as severe and circumstantial as that which prescribes the courtly forms existing among the most civilised people of Asia or Europe, served to maintain the wide line of demarcation which separated the lords of the land from the common artisans and cultivators of the soil: and the strange superstition of the Tabu, one of the most effectual instruments of government ever invented by man, still further secured the willing obedience of the people. In general the Tabu signified a prohibition. It interdicted the visiting of certain spots, the use of certain articles of food, the touching of certain objects, the use of certain words, the performance of certain actions, and he who, for instance, touched the dead body of a chieftain was subjected during several months to a tabu, and was then not allowed to carry his victuals to his mouth with his own hands. When hungry and no one near at hand to feed him, he was obliged to creep on all fours and seize his victuals with his lips.