TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE SIR JOSEPH BANKS, BART. G. C. B. PRESIDENT OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY, &c. &c. &c. THE FOLLOWING ACCOUNT OF THE NATIVES OF THE TONGA ISLANDS, IN WHICH IT IS ATTEMPTED PARTICULARLY TO SET FORTH THEIR MANNERS, CUSTOMS, AND RELIGION, FROM THE ORAL DESCRIPTIONS OF AN ENGLISHMAN LONG RESIDENT THERE, IS MOST WILLINGLY INSCRIBED AS A SMALL, YET APPROPRIATE TRIBUTE OF RESPECT, BY HIS VERY OBEDIENT AND DEVOTED HUMBLE SERVANT, JOHN MARTIN. PREFACE TO THE SECOND LONDON EDITION, THE flattering reception with which the present work has already been honoured by a liberal public, and the appearance of a French translation of it at Paris, in November last, are convinc-, ing proofs of the interest, at least, which the subject has excited, Whilst preparing this second edition, it has been my good fortune to meet with an additional weight of testimony in favour of the facts related; and not to detain the reader with unnecessary matter, I shall at once lay open the source of this new proof of the strict fidelity of Mr. Mariner's representations. Jeremiah Higgins, a young man belonging to the crew of the Port au Prince,* made his escape from the Tonga Islands about thirteen months before Mr. Mariner, that is to say, after a residence there of two years and eleven months. Being very young, he was one of the first who acquired a tolerable knowledge of the language; he practised He served on board this vessel in the capacity of what is technically termed a landsman, and was then about fifteen or sixteen years of age. their dances, and learned their songs; and although he had not the advantage of those better opportunities which fell in Mr. Mariner's way, and consequently is not so intimately acquainted, in certain points of view, with the political sentiments, and moral notions and habits especially of the higher classes of the natives, which the superior education of the latter, as well as his relative condition among the Tonga chiefs, rendered him more apt to acquire; -still, the information obtained from Higgins must undoubtedly be considered valuable, if only regarded as generally corroborative, and in a few instances somewhat corrective of Mr. Mariner's state ments. For three or four years (until December last) Jeremiah resided with his father, an old inhabitant of the town of Aylesbury, a man well known, and much respected; and in the employ of many farmers in the county as a hay-binder. Some time after the publication of the first edition of the present work, a copy was sent to Jeremiah, with a request, that he would particularly remark and make a memorandum of whatever he conceived not to be correctly ⚫ stated. In the month of November last, Mr. Higgins, the father, happening to be in town upon some business, called to inform me, that his son had been exceedingly pleased with the perusal of the work, particularly as it served to corroborate many things which he had previously related to his friends and neighbours, and to which he had reason to think they did not always give the credit that was due ; insomuch that he began to be heartily tired of answering their numerous inquiries. Among those to whom he had given the most information prior to the publication of the work, was Mr. T. Woodman, a very respectable and intelligent farmer, residing at Stone, near Aylesbury. As this gentlemen had also read the book, I wrote to him to request the favour of his sentiments, with regard to the two unconnected sources of information, which had fallen in his way. From the answer which he obligingly sent me, dated Stone, 4th December, 1817, I beg leave to |