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from the water into the stratum of oil above, the less specific gravity of the latter rendered their ascent difficult.'

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The Tonga people are represented in former voyages, as well as by Mariner, to be gifted with excellent natural powers, superior to those of any other islanders in the South Sea. It is remarked in the Missionary Voyage, speaking of the Pelew islanders, "if the few we saw are admitted to be a specimen of the whole, they are in our opinion inferior in external appearance to the Marquesans, the Society, or Friendly Islanders; - -they have not the stature and symmetry of the two first, and fall far short of the muscular, bold, and manly look of the latter." In the present picture of the Tonga people, we see them in calamitous times of civil dissension. When Captain Cook visited these islands, the whole were under the rule of a single chief, who came by hereditary succession to the sovereignty, and they were then in a state of internal tranquillity: but the tyranny of the king, whose will seems to have been law, caused his downfall, and a breach in the order of lineal succession. the odium brought on him by his conduct, Finow the present chief, and his brother, took advantage; and perhaps they thought that self-defence required them to adopt measures of this kind. Finow, however, did not effect the deposition of the tyrant, and his own assumption of the supreme dignity, without treachery and spilling of blood; nor could he maintain himself in this station but by a desperate and cruel war; and the greater part of Tonga-taboo, the principal island, would not acknowlege his authority. Under such circumstances, the energies of a courageous people will be continually called forth, sometimes to gratify rapacity, sometimes by deadly hatred and thirst of vengeance, and sometimes, with still less compunction, for ambitious ends; the moral and humane feelings are smothered or deadened by ungovernable passions; and the same people, often the same individual, will be found, according as they or he may be influenced by the impression of immediate circumstances, capable of deceit and treachery, of intrepidity and magnanimity, of compassion, of cruelty, and of generosity.

Several of the crew of the Port-au-Prince, who were obliged to seek their subsistence, were at first distressed for food.

'Sometimes food was brought to them, but often not; sometimes they were invited by the natives to walk into their houses and eat with them; but frequently they seemed to be quite neglected, and were reduced to the necessity of procuring what they wanted by stealth. At length, through Tooi Tooi's interpretation, Mr. Mariner made known their wants to the king,

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upon which the latter seemed greatly surprised at their apparent stupidity, and enquired how food was obtained in England: and when he heard that every man procured the necessary supplies for himself and family by purchase, and that his friends, for the most part, only partook by invitation, and that strangers were scarcely ever invited, unless with a view of forming an acquaintance; he laughed at what he called the ill-nature and selfishness of the white people; and told Mr. Mariner that the Tonga custom was far better, and that he had nothing to do when he felt himself hungry but to go into any house where eating and drinking was going forward, sit himself down without invitation, and partake with the company. After this, the generality of the natives made this selfishness, as they considered it, of the Europeans quite proverbial; and when any stranger came into their houses to eat with them, they would say jocosely, No! we shall treat you after the manner of the Papalangis (or white men); go home, and eat what you have got, and we shall eat what we have got!'

A moralizer would, on this occasion, repeat the well-known axiom that no earthly good is without alloy; since here we see that commerce, a supreme earthly good, the chief promoter of industry and of civilization, that opens general communication among mankind and makes equitable law a matter of necessity, subtracts from that noble virtue, Hospitality. Indeed, European history affords instances sufficient to prove that cordial hospitality was more general in days of yore than in our own. It may seem ungracious to antient times to say that, where little trade exists, spare commodities are less esteemed, and given away with less regret by their possessor, than when the state of commerce is such as to offer a ready market for superfluities: but to this cause, doubtless, we must refer the fact that old hospitality was of more princely disposition than modern. If commerce, however, dispenses less gracefully, it diffuses more beneficially, by giving every commodity the best chance of being used where it is most wanted.

The following anecdote is characteristic not peculiarly of the Tonga-people, but of their state of civilization:

As Mr. Mariner had a few printed books and some writing paper, he was often found by Finow either writing or reading: one day the latter desired him to give up all his books and papers; which, when he had done, he had the mortification to find that they were ordered to be burnt. On requiring an explanation of this extraordinary conduct, on the part of a man who appeared on other occasions to be so much his friend, he was informed, through the medium of Tooi Tooi, that the King could not, on any account, allow him to practise. witchcraft to the injury of the Tonga people; and that it was well known to the king and many others, that those books and papers were instruments and means

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of invocation, to bring down some evil or plague upon the country.'

A jealousy of this kind proved fatal to the English missionaries who were left by the ship Duff at the Tonga islands, which, it must be allowed, was much increased by their contracted manners. Mariner received an account of this event from Finow.

For several years before Mariner's arrival, Finow had made an annual descent with all his force on the island Tonga-taboo, where he committed great ravages, and particularly in laying waste the lands of the chiefs: but still they held out against him; and their principal motive for not submitting appears to have been a want of confidence in his sincerity. He had shewn great inveteracy against all who had been attached to the late King, and many of them who fell into his power were put to death in various ways: some being bound in old canoes, which were carried out to sea and scuttled; and some tied naked to stakes driven in the ground, and left to starve to death. "Notwithstanding their exposure to the raging heat of the sun, several of them bore their torments with the greatest fortitude, although lingering till the eighth day; others of weaker constitution died in three or four days. Ever since that time, the natives of the place superstitiously believe that they can hear their groans frequently at different times during the night: - but this no doubt is occasioned by the roaring of the surf at a distance, or of the sea in subterraneous caverns, which, working upon the imagination, to a certain extent resembles the groans of dying people.' - The island Vavaoo likewise held out, but was at length reduced; and in that war Finow murdered all the chiefs whom he made prisoners in battle.

The natives of Tonga have bows and arrows, and javelins: but their principal weapon is the iron-wood club, about three feet in length, of which many samples are among the South-Sea curiosities in the British Museum. In their public games, they use clubs nearly similar in shape and size, made of green branches of the cocoa-nut tree; and in these combats their blows are dealt with inconceivable rapidity, and generally continued till the fall of one of the parties. On the arrival of the first period after Mariner had been among them for the annual descent on the island Tonga, Finow collected fifty sailing canoes, four of the largest having each a caronnade mounted that formerly belonged to the Port-au-Prince; and he had nine Englishmen armed with muskets. In the way to Tonga, contrary winds obliged the fleet to stop at a small island, and Finow took this opportunity to make a review of

his forces. Most of the men were painted and dressed after the manner of the Feejee or Fiji islanders. Finow sat with several chiefs in a house on a green plot called the Marly, being a place appropriated for various public purposes.

Each warrior of note ran singly close up to Finow, and striking his club violently on the ground, cried out "This is the club for -," mentioning the name of some individual enemy whom he meant particularly to seek out and engage; others running up in the same way, exclaimed, "Fear not, Finow; no sooner shall we land at Tonga than here is the club with which I will kill any one who dares to fight against us." Finow and the chiefs thanked them for their sentiments of love and loyalty, and then he addressed them in a speech to the following purpose: "Be brave in battle; fear not death: it is far better to die in war than to live to be assassinated at home, or to die of a lingering disease."

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Before they reached Tonga, the fleet was joined by many other canoes, making in all 170: but the number of men contained in them is not stated. They marched against a fortress which had resisted every attempt to conquer it for eleven. years: but, being now attacked by cannon and musketry, it was in a few hours no longer defensible, and was abandoned by the besieged, who left 350 of their party killed on the spot. A specimen of cannibalism is related in the account of this expedition. Some young chiefs, who it is said had contracted the manners of the Fiji islanders, proposed to kill their prisoners, and then roast and eat them. This proposal was readily agreed to, by some, because they liked this sort of diet, and by others because they wanted to try it, thinking it a manly and warlike habit; there was also another motive, viz. a great scarcity of provisions; for some canoes which had been sent to the Hapai islands for provisions were unaccountably detained, and the garrison was already threatened with distress. Some of the prisoners were soon dispatched: their flesh was cut up into small portions, washed with sea-water, wrapped up in plantain leaves, and roasted under hot stones: two or three were embowelled and baked whole, the same as a pig.'

Mr. Mariner ascribes to the Fiji people the disgrace of having taught the Tongas this abominable practice of eating their prisoners. The Fiji islanders are a different race from those of Tonga, are reckoned more fierce and more cunning, and, in their features as well as in the woolliness of their hair, they partake of the negro cast. Many of the Tonga-men, we are told, suffered much distress because they would not relieve themselves by joining in the unnatural repast offered to them:

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but sufficient reason may be given for believing that cannibalism has occasionally been practised at most, or all, of the South Sea islands. Indeed, it may be doubted whether it has been absolutely unknown to any people in some early stage of society.

Shortly after the Tonga-expedition, Finow was induced by some suspicion to contrive the death of his brother; which seems to be one of the worst of the many barbarous acts committed by him. The island Vavaoo, which had been reduced, now revolted; and Finow proceeded against it with an army consisting of 5000 men, having with them 1000 women, in 50 large canoes. On approaching a fortress which was to be attacked, Finow ordered a mataboole (warrior) 'to advance forward and request an armistice, that each party might take leave of what friends and relations they might have among their opponents *; which being granted, a number came out of the garrison to take a farewell of their relatives, perhaps the last farewell of those who were about to fight against them. Here ensued a moving scene; many tears were shed on both sides, and many a last embrace exchanged.' This scene lasted two hours, when it was broken off by one of the opposite party shooting an arrow at Mr. Mariner, who killed him with his musket, and the battle commenced.

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The chief of the Vavaoo people who had revolted was a woman, and the aunt of Finow; and one of his wives also, on some occasion of jealousy, or of love for her relations, absconded and went over to the enemy. Finow sent to his aunt, Toe Omoo, a request to have his wife returned, 'stating that it was a war between men and not women; but his remonstrances had no effect.' In revenge for this neglect, Finow watched for an opportunity to retaliate on the enemy's women; it soon occurred; and of thirty who were surprised in an inlet collecting shell-fish, five were killed, and thirteen taken prisoners; the rest escaped. Finow had ordered that all who fell into the hands of the party sent by him should be killed on the spot: but the captors were persuaded to shew mercy.

* In a civil war at these islands, as well as at other places, it often happens that sons have to fight against their fathers, and brothers against their brothers; but what renders this circumstance still more common at Tonga, is the adherence to an old established custom, which binds every man in honour to join the cause of that chief on whose island he happens to be at the time the war is declared, unless some circumstance, as particular relationship between great men, engages the chief of the island, upon earnest request, to give him liberty to depart.'

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