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Polynesian Researches

XX. Concerning Drunkenness

XX. Concerning Drunkenness

If a man drinks spirits till he becomes intoxicated, (the literal rendering would be poisoned,) and is then troublesome or mischievous, the magistrates shall cause him to be bound or confined; and when the effects of the drink have subsided, shall admonish him not to offend again. But if he be obstinate in drinking spirits, and when intoxicated becomes mischievous, let him be brought before the magistrate, and sentenced to labour, such as roadmaking, five fathoms in length, and two in breadth. If not with this, with a plantation fence, fifty fathoms long. If it be a woman that is guilty of this crime, she shall plat two large mats, one for the king, and the other for the governor of the district; or make four hibiscus mats, two for the king, and two for the governor; or forty fathoms of native cloth, twenty for the king, and twenty for the governor.