"to live by choice among them. The white men that came last built a house, in which

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they used often to shut themselves up, to sing and perform ceremonies, (as Finow ex(C pressed it). Matters went on very well for "some time: at length a quarrel ensued be"tween Morgan and the other white men, at "first about an iron pot which he wanted to bor"row of them, and then about some pigs which they said he had stolen from them: upon this

they informed the chiefs that this Morgan "had been a bad man in his own country, and "was under sentence of banishment for his "crimes; but from the full execution of which "he had escaped." (He had actually escaped from Botany Bay.) "The people then began "to treat Morgan with every species of insult, "so that his life was very uncomfortable, and "often in great danger. Morgan in his turn "told the chiefs who they were; viz. that they "were men sent out by the king of England, "to bring a pestilence upon the people of "Tonga, and that they accordingly shut them"selves up in this house, to perform witch"craft, and make incantations, which was the cause of the pestilence that then raged:" (there epidemic disease at the time, which

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best intentions may be ruined by the ignorance of the one, and influence of the other.

But to return from this digression; Mr. Mariner, and his companions, ignorant of the language of the country, and of the customs of the people, were often much distressed for want of food: sometimes food was brought to them, but often not; sometimes they were invited by the natives to walk into their houses and eat with them; but frequently they seemed to be quite neglected, and were reduced to the necessity of procuring what they wanted by stealth. At length, through Tooi Tooi's interpretation, Mr. Mariner made known their wants to the king, upon which the latter seemed greatly surprised at their apparent stupidity; and enquired how food was obtained in England: and when he heard that every man procured the necessary supplies for himself and family by purchase, and that his friends, for the most part, only partook by invitation, and that strangers were scarcely ever invited, unless with a view of forming an acquaintance; he laughed at what he called the ill-nature and selfishness of the white people; and told Mr. Mariner that the Tonga custom was far better, and that he had nothing to do when he felt himself hungry but to go into any house where eating and drinking

was going forward, sit himself down without invitation, and partake with the company. After this, the generality of the natives made this selfishness, as they considered it, of the Europeans quite proverbial; and when any stranger came into their houses to eat with them, they would say jocosely, No! we shall treat you after the manner of the Papalangis; go home, and eat what you have got, and we shall eat what we have got!

Mr. Mariner and his companions, about five in number, (for the others were dispersed upon different islands) began now to be heartily tired of their way of life, and requested the king to give them a large canoe, that they might rig it as a sloop, and (with his permission) endeavour to make Norfolk Island on their way to New Holland; but this he refused, under pretext that the canoe would be too weak to stand the sea. On farther solicitation, however, he gave them leave to build a vessel for the express purpose, but in the progress of the work happening unfortunately to notch one of their axes, he refused any longer the use of them.

Thus cut off from all present hopes of escape, it became more than ever necessary to conform their minds to the manners and customs of the people whom they were among; but in a short

time the ever changing events of war served to create a degree of activity in the mind, destructive of habits of disagreeable reflections, and fruitless regrets,

As we are now about to enter upon a new scene of things, in which the political interests of these islands are particularly concerned, it becomes necessary to afford a general view of their history, from the time of Captain Cook; and particularly for the twelve or fifteen years previous to Mr. Mariner's arrival there, with a view to understand perfectly the state of things as he found it.

At the time when Captain Cook was at these islands, the habits of war were little known to the natives; the only quarrels in which they had at that time been engaged had been among the inhabitants of the Feejee islands, about 120 leagues to the westward; for having been in the habit of visiting these islands for sandal wood, &c. they occasionally assisted one or other of the warlike parties against the enemy. The bows and arrows which before that period had been in use among the people of Tonga were of a weaker kind, and fitted rather for sport than war,-for the purpose of shooting rats, birds, &c. From the fierce and warlike people of those islands, however,

they soon learned to construct bows and arrows of a much more martial and formidable nature; and soon became acquainted with a better form of the spear, and a superior method of holding and throwing this missile weapon. The also imitated them by degrees in the practice of painting their faces, and using a peculiar dress in time of war, giving a fierce appearance, calculated to strike terror into the minds of their enemies. These martial improvements were in their progress at the time of Captain Cook's arrival, but not in general practice; for having few or no civil dissensions among themselves, the knowledge of these things was confined principally to a few young chiefs and their adherents, who had been at the Feejee islands. Captain Cook describes some evolutions practised by the natives as being forms of war, and indeed they have that appearance; but they are to be considered rather as games and dances, which the Tonga people had learnt from the island of Neuha. None of the oldest natives could give any account of their first discovery of the Feejee islands, but say they went to the Feejee islands before the natives of those islands came to them perhaps their canoes were drifted there by strong easterly winds.-Since Captain Cook's time, a certain chief at the island