pretend to decide. Of these two personages, Tooitonga, as may be guessed from his title, is far higher in rank ;-the word imports chief of Tonga, which island has always been considered the most noble of all the Friendly islands, and from time immemorial the greatest chiefs have been accustomed to make it their principal place of residence, and after their decease to be buried there in the tombs of their ancestors. This island, moreover, gives name, by way of pre-eminence, to all the islands taken collectively, as a capital town sometimes gives name to a country; and withal it has acquired the epithet of sacred, táboo, and is thus sometimes called Tonga táboo, denoting its excellence; from this circumstance it is erroneously noted down in our charts Tongataboo; but táboo is only an epithet occasionally used. The respect which is shewn to Tooitonga, and the high rank which he holds in society, is wholly of a religious nature, and is far superior, when occasion demands it, to that which is shewn even to the king himself; for this latter, as will by and by be seen, is by no means of the most noble descent, but yields in this respect to Tooitónga, Veachi, and several families related to them; and if the king were accidentally to meet any chief of nobler

descent than himself, he would have to wit down on the ground till the other had passed him, which is a mark of respect that a common peasant would be obliged to shew to any chief or egi whatsoever; and for this reason the king never associates with any chief superior to himself, and always endeavours to avoid -meeting them, and they in like manner endeavour to avoid him, that he might not be put to the trouble of sitting down while they passed for if any one were to forego this ceremony in presence of a superior egi, some calamity from the gods would be expected as a punishment for the omission. Sitting down is with them a mark of respect, as standing up is with us, before a superior; upon the princi ple perhaps, that in this posture a man cannot so readily attack or assassinate the person in whose presence he is; or it may be that in this posture lowering his height is significant of his rank or merit being humbled in presence of the other.

There are many ceremonies which characterise the high respect and veneration shewn to Tooitonga; but as in this place we are discoursing of rank, not of ceremonies, the full description of the latter must be deferred till we come to speak of religious rites. Here we

shall only mention, in a general way, in what these ceremonies chiefly consist.

1. The grand ceremony of ina'chi, which is performed once a year, (about the month of October,) and consists in offering the first fruits of the year to Tooitonga. It was supposed that if this ceremony were neglected, the vengeance of the gods would fall in a signal manner upon the people.

2. Peculiarity of his marriage ceremony. 3. Peculiarity of his burial ceremony.

4. Peculiarity of the mourning for his de

cease.

5. Tooitonga is not circumcised, as all the other men are, unless he goes to foreign islands to undergo this ceremony; nor is he tattowed.

6. Peculiarities of speech, used in regard to Tooitonga; for instance, if the king or any chief but Tooitonga be sick, they say he is ténga tángi, but Tooitonga being sick, he is said to be booloo'hi: so with many other words that are used exclusively for him, and which will be noticed hereafter.

These things are mentioned in this place, merely to afford an idea of the high veneration in which Tooitonga is held; for to whom but the greatest personage can such peculiari

ties belong? Notwithstanding his high rank, however, he has comparatively but very little absolute power, which extends in a direct and positive manner only to his own family and attendants: as to his property, he has somewhat more than the generality of the nobles, but much less than the king, who by his arbitrary sovereignty can lay claim to almost any thing.

Thus all that can be said in this place of Tooitonga is, that he is by far the greatest egi, having the credit of a high divine original, and that all respect and veneration is therefore due to him.

VEACHI, as mentioned before, is another egi of divine original, but far from being equal to Tooitonga. The king, indeed, avoids his presence, the same as he would that of Tooitonga, and always pays him the usual obeisance when he happens to meet him: but he has no peculiar marks of high respect shewn to him, as are shewn to Tooitonga; that is to say, no ceremonies that are, in themselves, peculiar and different from what are shewn to other chiefs by their inferiors. There is this one universal acknowledgment, however, viz. that he is a great chief descended from a god, that he is next in rank to Tooitonga, and superior to every other chief. His

name has no known literal meaning that Mr. Mariner can discover.

PRIESTS OF FAHE-GEHE. The term fahe-gehe means split off, separate, or distinct from, and is applied to signify a priest, or man, who has a peculiar or distinct sort of mind or soul, differing from that of the generality of mankind, which disposes some god occasionally to inspire him. These inspirations, of which an account has been given vol. i. p. 105, frequently happen, and on such occasions the priest has the same deference and respect shewn to him as if he were the god himself; if the king happen to be present, he retires to a respectful distance, and sits down among the body of the spectators, so would Veachi', and so would even the high divine chief Tooitonga, because a god is believed to exist at that moment in the priest, and to speak from his mouth: but at other times a priest has no other respect paid to him than what his own proper family rank may require. They generally belong to the lower order of chiefs, or to the matabooles, though sometimes great chiefs are thus visited by the gods, and the king himself has been inspired by Tali-y-toobo, the chief of the gods. During the time a priest is inspired he is looked on with more or less