guilty not because they obeyed, but because they obeyed with willingness, in hope of ob taining what to them were riches. In respect to the intended assassination of Captain Cook, every native of Tonga would have considered it, if it had taken place, a very base act, for which probably the gods would have punished them. Toobo Neuha's assassination of Toogoo Ahoo was esteemed rather a virtue than a crime; but Toobó Toa's assassination of Toobo Neuha was held a very atrocious act, offensive to the gods. An old Mataboole used to say, that useless and unprovoked murder was highly offensive to the gods; and that he never remembered a man guilty of it but who either lived unhappy, or came to an untimely end.

Theft is considered by them an act of meanness rather than a crime; and although some of the chiefs themselves have been known to be guilty of it on board ships, it is nevertheless not approved of. Their excuse is the strength of the temptation: the chiefs that would do it are, however, few.

From the above considerations, we are disposed to say, that the notions of the Tonga people, in respect to honour and justice, as we have above viewed them, are tolerably well de

fined, steady and universal; but that, in point of practice, both the chiefs and the people, taking them generally, are irregular and fickle; being in some respects exceedingly honourable and just, and in others the contrary, as a variety of causes may operate. In regard to these virtues, therefore, (in the sense in which we have here taken them,) they may be considered very faulty; though there are several admirable exceptions, whose characters become more splendid and meritorious by the contrast.

As being closely allied with principles of honour and justice, we shall now examine the character of these people, as it regards their opinion of one another; and here we shall find something greatly to admire, and much to be approved of. While we accuse them of treachery and cruelty, they as loudly ery out that we are calumniators and detractors: for no bad moral habit appears to a native of Tonga more ridiculous, depraved, and unjust, than publishing the faults of one's acquaintances and friends; for while it answers no profitable purpose, it does a great deal of mischief to the party who suffers; and as to downright calumny or false accusation, it appears to them more horrible than deliberate murder does to us: for it is

better, they think, to assassinate a man's person than to attack his reputation. In the first case, you only cause his death, which must happen to him some time or another, whether you will or not; but in the latter case you take from him what otherwise he might, strictly speaking, never have lost, which he might have carried with him faultless to the grave, and which afterwards might have remained attached to his memory as long as the memory of him existed. And they not only hold this as a just and honourable principle, but they likewise put it in practice; so that instances of calumny and defamation are very rare. On the other hand, they equally avoid the baseness of flattery, and even where a man has performed some achievement that is really praiseworthy, they seldom commend him in his presence, lest it should make him vain and proud of himself: and that they are very well able to discriminate true bravery from false we have already stated and instanced in the former volume. (See p. 240 and 241,) where it is also remarked, that a modest opinion of oneself is esteemed a great virtue, and is also put in practice for a farther instance of this, the conduct of the present king may be noticed,

when he first came into power, and his admirable speech may also be referred to. (Vol. I. p. 410.)

In regard to humanity, or a fellow-feeling for one another, much is to be said on both sides of the question. The sentiment itself is universally approved of, and they speak highly of Europeans for their mild and humane conduct: it must be confessed, however, that they do not so extensively practise it, at least according to our notions of it, nor even, we may add, according to their own; which must be attributed in some to a want of thought, and want of feeling, particularly in boys and young lads; and in the older branches of society to motives of revenge, which, if it be for some serious injury, is deemed almost a virtue. We are here speaking of the men; as to the women, they are universally humane: a few, indeed, of the principal wives of chiefs are proud and haughty, and consequently tyrannical; but, considering the women generally, they are exceedingly humane and considerate; and though in their talkativeness, as in other parts of the world, they naturally speak of one another's faults, it is usually of such as are of a trifling nature, and without any malice, being mostly in the way of humour or joke: as to

considerable faults, such as a woman's infidelity to her husband, it would remain as much a secret with any of her own sex, (if they accidentally knew it,) as it possibly could with herself! Quarrels among the women are very rare. There is a lesser species of humanity, known commonly by the term good-nature, which is universally prevalent among the men as well as the women, and which is plainly depicted in the countenances of most of them. Taking all things into consideration, we must not venture to call them a humane people; but, on the contrary, to say they were cruel would certainly be making use of too harsh a term.

The next subject we shall consider is chastity. In respect to this, their notions are widely different from those of most European nations; we must, therefore, first examine what are their own ideas respecting this matter, and if they are such as are consistent with public decorum and due order and regularity in the social state, without tending to enervate the mind or debase the character of man, we shall take those ideas as the standard by which to judge them, and as far as they act consistently thereto we shall call them chaste, and as far as they infringe upon it we shall deem them offenders. But here it may be asked how are we to judge