to drink cava with her and her attendants, and, as she presided, he of course sat outside, facing her. When the cava was finished, he walked out to view the fortifications, when the matabooles of Toe Oomoo waited on him, and pointed out every thing worthy of notice. They descanted on the excellence of the plan, and then gave him anecdotes of the war, telling him where such a chief was killed, where another lost his arm or his leg, where a cannon-ball had struck, &c.; and, as they viewed the outside of the works, they pointed out where the different murderers of Toobo Neuha met their fate. All this, however, they told him in answer to his queries; for it is a thing very remarkable in the character of the people of Tonga, that they never exult in any feats of bravery they may have performed, but, on the contrary, take every opportunity of praising their adversaries; and this a man will do, although his adversary may be plainly a coward, and will make an excuse for him, such as the unfavourableness of the opportunity, or great fatigue, or ill state of health, or badness of his ground, &c. In their games of wrestling they act up to the same principle, never to speak ill of their antagonist afterwards, but always to praise him. As an illustration of this character it may be

remarked, that the man who called himself Fanna Fonnooa, (a great gun,) who ventured his life in his hazardous approach to Mr. Mariner, and threw his spear at the muzzle of his carronade, never afterwards boasted of it, nor appeared to think he had done any thing extraordinary, or at least worthy of after-notice. Their notions of true bravery appear to be very correct, and the light in which they viewed this act of Fanna Fonnooa serves for an example: they considered it in short a rash action, and unworthy a great and brave mind, that never risks any danger but with a moral certainty, or at least reasonable expectation, of doing some service to his cause. In these respects they accuse Europeans of a great deal of vanity and selfishness, and, unfortunately, with too much appearance of justice. It must be remarked, however, that these noble sentiments belong to chiefs, matabooles, and professed warriors; not much to the lowest orders, many of whom will knock a dead man about the head with a club till they have notched and blooded it a good deal, and pretend it was done in the battle against a living foe; but such things are always suspected, and held in ridicule.

Finow having for a considerable time inspected the fortification, praising every where

VOL. I.

R

the judgment with which it was planned, retired to the house which had formerly belonged to Toobo Neuha, where he passed the night. The following morning he summoned a general meeting of all the inhabitants of Vavaoo, which was soon accomplished, as the people were all at one or other of the two fortresses. He then gave directions to all the principal men respecting the cultivation of the country, which the late war had reduced to a sad state. He commanded that every one should be as frugal as possible in his food, that the present scarcity might be recompensed with future abundance. He ordered his fishermen to supply him and his chiefs with plenty of fish, that the consumption of pork might be lessened. Having settled these matters, he next gave orders that the large fortress of Felletoa should be taken down, its fencing carried away by any body who might want it, its banks levelled with the ground, and its ditches filled up; urging, as his reason, that there was no necessity for a garrisoned place in time of peace, particularly in a spot which could be so much better employed for building an additional number of more commodious dwellings. The fortress of Neafoo, he said, might remain, for it was a place not convenient to live at, and therefore it was not worth while to take

any trouble about it. These were his ostensible reasons, but his real motives were easy to be seen into: he was apprehensive, that, in the event of another insurrection, his enemies might again possess themselves of this strong hold; but as to the other fortress, if he did not succeed in securing it for himself, he could easily dispossess his enemies of it, by destroying it with his carronades whenever he thought proper.

These orders were begun immediately to be put into execution, under the inspection of the chiefs of the different districts of the island. The following day the king gave orders to Toobo Toa to proceed back to the Hapai islands, of which he constituted him tributary chief; the tributes to be sent to Vavaoo half

*

* The tribute generally consists of yams, mats, gnatoo, dried fish, live birds, &c.; and is levied upon every man's property in proportion as he can spare. The quantity is sometimes determined by the chief of each district, though generally by the will of each individual, who will always take care to send quite as much as he can well afford, lest the superior chief should be offended with him, and deprive him of all that he has. This tribute is paid twice a year; once at the ceremony of Inachi, or offering the first fruits of the season to the gods, in or about the beginning of October; and again, at some other time of the year, when the tributary chief may think proper, and is generally done when

yearly, as usual: at the same time, all the natives of Hapai, who had come to the war, were to return with their chief. On this occasion the young prince (Finow's son, Moegnagnongo) went with Toobo Toa to the Hapai: islands, as he wished to look over his lands on the island of Foa; and Mr. Mariner accompanied the prince, as he preferred his character and habits to those of his father. They arrived safe at this island after a quick passage of about nine hours.

some article is in great plenty. The tribute levied at the time of the Inachi is general and absolute; that which is paid on the other occasion comes more in form of a present, but is so established by old custom, that, if it were omitted, it would amount to little less than an act of rebellion. It may here with propriety be observed, that the practice of making presents to superior chiefs is very general and frequent. The higher class of chiefs generally make a present to the king, of hogs or yams, about once a fortnight: these chiefs, about the same time, receive presents from those below them, and these last from others, and so on, down to the common people. The principle on which all this is grounded is of course fear, but it is termed respect.