Tattów, a sort of matting, plaited in a very ornamental way, made of young cocoa-nut leaves : used to screen the sides of houses from the weather. Cato, baskets; these are of various constructions; sometimes of a sort of matting made with the leaves of the fa, paoongo, lo acow, &c.; at other times of the fibrous root of the cocoa-nut tree interwoven with plait made of the husk of the nut, and have rather the appearance of wickerwork: the latter are sometimes variously stained and ornamented with beads or shells worked in. The larger and coarser baskets are generally made by men, to hold axes and other tools in; also the baskets used to hold victuals, made of the leaves of the cocoa-nut tree, are generally made by men.

Bawla, mats for thatching houses; either made by men or women: frequently by the former.

Most of these mats, baskets, &c. are 'made by women of some rank as an amusing as well as profitable occupation, exchanging them afterwards for other things; (See p. 97 of this volume.) Making of combs, the teeth of which consists of the mid-rib of the cocoa-nut leaf, is also an employment of women of rank. Making thread is an occupation of females of the lower order: it is performed by twisting the separate parts of the thread, in the act of rolling them with the palm of the hand along the thigh, and by a return of the hand, twisting them together the contrary way. The material of the thread is the prepared bark of the olonga. Needles are generally made by carpenters out of human thigh-bones, which are procured from their enemies slain in battle: the only use they have for them is to make sails.

CHAPTER IX.

UNDER the head of Religion, we have given a cursory view of the general habits of Tooitonga, Veachí, and the Priests; we shall now set forth, in a similar manner, those of the rest of society, as they regard chiefs, matabooles, mooas, tooas, women and children.

Respecting the general habits of chiefs, matabooles, and mooas the higher chiefs seldom if ever associate freely together, unless at the morning cava parties, and those meetings are to be considered, in a great measure, as visits of custom and form. The matabooles and mooas freely associate with the chiefs to whom they belong., They are their necessary attendants at cava parties, &c., and form the bulk of their fighting men and followers. They not only associate freely with one another, but also with the followers of other high chiefs, and even with those high chiefs themselves, without any reserve, excepting the requisite ceremonies of respect which occasion may require. Every high or governing chief has his cow-nofo, (those who settle or dwell with him), or, as they are sometimes called, cow-mea, (adherents), who consist of inferior chiefs and matabooles. Each of these inferior chiefs has his cow-tangata, or body

of fighting men, consisting chiefly of mooas: the matabooles have no cow-tangata. The retinue, or cow-nofo, of a great chief, therefore, consists of inferior chiefs (with their cow-tangatas) and matabooles; and the retinue or cow-tangata of an inferior chief consists of mooas, and perhaps, also, a few tooas, who have been found brave fellows. A great number of these cow-nofo, perhaps about eighty or ninety, actually dwell in and near the superior chief's fencing (each fencing having many houses), whilst there are many others who sleep and pass a great portion of their time at their own plantations; for not only inferior chiefs, but also matabooles and mooas, have plantations of their own. The matabooles, however, excepting perhaps two or three inspectors of the chief's plantations, dwell always in or near his fencing, as their presence is so often required by him for the regulation of different matters. With respect to the inferior chiefs, they generally live at their plantations; but the greater part, or at least about half of the mooas, dwell in the neighbourhood of the great chief to whom they belong. We shall now explain how these different individuals come to attach themselves to a particular chief. We will suppose that the present king or any other great chief has a son six or seven years of age, his playmates are the sons of the inferior chiefs, matabooles, and mooas of his father's establishment, who freely associate with him, accompany him upon excursions, and imitate, in many respects, the habits of their parents. He does not, however, designedly play the chief, and conduct himself with arrogance towards them. They know his superior rank without being reminded of it; and

although they wrestle and box, and play all manner of games with him, they never fail before they eat to perform the ceremony of moe-móe, to take off the taboo which his superior rank has imposed upon his inferior associates. In some of his country excursions, he perhaps meets with two or three of the sons of tooas, who by their strength and agility in wrestling, or bravery in boxing, or some other ostensible quality, recommend themselves to his notice, and therefore become also his companions. Thus they grow up in years together; and as the young chief approaches towards manhood, he does not exact, but he receives, with more or less affability, the respect and attention which his inferior associates readily pay him, and who now may be termed his cow-tangata, i. e. associates, supporters, and defenders of his cause. By and by the old chief dies, and the young one succeeds to his authority, and all the matabooles of his father become his matabooles, and the inferior chiefs and mooas also enter his service in addition to those he had before; and though several of them upon this change may choose to retire to their plantations, they are, nevertheless, in his service whenever he may call upon them.

The natives of Fiji, Hamoa, and the Sandwich Islands, who were resident at Tonga, used to say that it was not a good practice of the people of the latter place to let their women lead such easy lives; the men, they said, had enough to do in matters of war, &c., and the women ought, therefore, to be made to work hard and till the ground. No, say the Tonga men, it is not gnale fafine (consistent with the feminine character) to let them do hard work; women ought only to do

what is feminine. Who loves a masculine woman? besides, men are stronger, and, therefore, it is but proper that they should do the hard labour. It seems to be a peculiar trait in the character of the Tonga people, when compared with that of the other natives of the South Seas,* and with savage nations in general, that they do not consign the heaviest cares and burdens of life to the charge of the weaker sex; but, from the most generous motives, take upon themselves all those laborious or disagreeable tasks which they think inconsistent with the weakness and delicacy of the softer sex. Thus the women of Tonga, knowing how little their own sex in other islands are respected by the men, and how much better they themselves are treated by their countrymen, and feeling at the same time, from this and other causes, a patriotic sentiment, joined to their natural reserve, seldom associate with foreigners. Thus, when the Port au Prince arrived at the Sandwich Islands, the ship was crowded with women ready to barter their personal favours for any trinkets they could obtain; but how different at Lefooga! where only one woman came on board, and she was one of the lower order, who was in a manner obliged to come by order of a native, to whom she belonged as a prisoner of war, and who had been requested by one of the officers of the ship to send a female on board. Captain Cook,

* If there is any exception to this in the South Seas, it is with the natives of Otaheite; but there neither men nor women work hard. The natives of the latter place appear altogether a soft effeminate race, strongly addicted to voluptuous habits; whilst in Tonga the men are of a more noble and manly character, and the women considerably more reserved.