The government of the Maldive state is royal, very ancient and absolute; the king is feared and dreaded, and everything depends upon him. I have said that the islands are divided into thirteen atollons,–a natural division, which has been followed in government; for of these are constituted thirteen provinces, over each of which is a chief called a Naybe. These Naybes, or chiefs of provinces, are priests or doctors of the law, who have an eye as well to all matters of religion and education, as to the administration of justice in the province, giving their orders to the priests under them. For the atollons are again divided into many islands, and in each one containing more than forty-one men, as I said, there is a doctor called a Catibe, the religious superior of that island, who has under him the priests incumbent of the mosques. All these see to the instruction of the people in the law: they are supported in part by fruits, which everyone is bound to yield, and in part from certain endowments assigned to them by the king, according to their degree. But the Naybes, besides their duties and authority in religion, are also appointed to administer justice, each in his own government. They are the sole judges in the land, as well in matters civil as criminal; and if one wants to go to law, he must go find the Naybe or attend his coming to the place.