tonga died, that his chief wife should be strangled and buried with him, but, in respect to the two last Tooitongas, this was not performed. Again, the late king would not allow Tooitonga to give him any advice in matters of war, but insisted that he should remain in peace and quietness at his own side of the island and lastly, the present king, when the late Tooitonga died, would not allow his son to succeed to that high title, but, at one bold stroke, freed the people from a vast burden of taxes, by annulling the title of Tooitonga, and the expensive ceremony of Inachi, with a view, also, (as the reader will recollect) to do away with the necessity of any communication with the Hapai people. Veachi, being a sensible, good, quiet sort of man, who interfered in no public matters, and who had nothing to do with the people of other islands but his own, (Toongooa,) was still suffered to retain his dignity, and probably does to this day; and, in that case, is the greatest chief at the Tonga islands, for the late Tooitonga's son, if he has not been since made a Tooitonga, is below Veachi in rank. Thus it appears that the Tonga islands are undergoing a considerable change, both in respect to religion and politics; and if the communica

tion between Vavaoo and the Hapai islands, and between both places and Tonga, shall remain closed for a number of years, it will be a curious enquiry, to investigate what changes the language will undergo in those respective places.

In regard to the priests, their habits are precisely the same as other persons of the same rank; and, when they are not inspired, all the respect that is paid to them is that only which is due to their private rank. Mr. Mariner recollects no chief that was a priest: he has, indeed, seen the king inspired by Taly-yToobo (who never inspires any body but the king), but he is not strictly considered a priest on this account; those only, in general, being considered priests who are in the frequent habit of being inspired by some particular god. It most frequently happens that the eldest son of a priest, after his father's death, becomes a priest of the same god who inspired his father. The general circumstances of fits of inspiration have been already noticed (vol. i. p. 105). When a priest is inspired, he is thought capable of prophesying, or, rather, the god within him is said sometimes to prophesy; these prophecies generally come true, for they are mostly made on the probable side of a question, and when they do not come to pas

VOL. II.

L

as expected, the priest is not blamed, but it is supposed the gods for some wise purpose have deceived them; or that the gods, for ought they know, have since changed their mind, and ordered matters otherwise; or that the god who inspired the priests spoke prematurely, without consulting the other gods.

At the Sandwich islands the priests appear to be a distinct order or body of men, living for the most part together, holding occasional conferences, and at all times respected by the body of the people; whereas, at the Tonga islands the priests live indiscriminately with the rest of the natives, are not respected on the score of their being priests, unless when actually inspired, and hold no known conferences together, as an allied body. Mr. Mariner frequently associated with them, watched their general conduct, and enquired the opinion of all classes of the natives respecting them; and, after all, has no reason to think that they combine together for the purpose of deceiving the people. He found nothing that he conceived very remarkable in their general character: if there was any difference between them and the rest of the natives, it was that they were rather more given to reflection, and somewhat more taciturn, and probably greater observers of what was

going forward. They have no peculiarity of dress to distinguish them. The most remarkable of their prophecies, if they deserve that name, are those mentioned vol. i. p. 110 and 369. The priests associate with the chiefs as much as other matabooles and mooas; and, although Tooitonga and Veachi are considered divine chiefs, still they have no more to do with the priests, nor are they any otherwise connected with them, nor related to them, than are other chiefs.

Having thus far given a general view of the religious opinions of the Tonga people, and an account of the habits of their divine chiefs and priests, we shall proceed to unfold, with as much accuracy and impartiality as possible, their notions and habits of morality; and in another chapter conclude the subjects connected with religion, by a detail of their religious ceremonies.

Moral virtue will appear to have a very slender foundation in these islands, when we consider that the natives believe in no future place of reward, but what a man will equally possess, whether he lives virtuously or not, and that they have no idea of a future state of punishment of any kind or degree whatsoever; and our opinion of their notions of moral virtue will not be much exalted, when, on a strict examination

of their language, we discover no words essentially expressive of some of the higher qualities of human merit: as virtue, justice, humanity; nor of the contrary, as vice, injustice, cruelty, &c. They have indeed expressions for these ideas, but they are equally applicable to other things. To express a virtuous or good man, they would say, tangata lillé, a good man, or tangata loto lillé, a man with a good mind; but the word lillé, good (unlike our word virtuous), is equally applicable to an axe, canoe, or any thing else: again, they have no word to express humanity, mercy, &c. but ofa, which rather means friendship, and is a word of cordial salutation: neither have they any word expressive of chastity, except nofo mow, remaining fixed or faithful, and which in this sense is only applied to a married woman, to signify her fidelity to her husband; but in another sense it is applicable to a warrior, to signify his loyalty and attachment to his chief. Farthermore, when we learn that theft, revenge, rape, and murder, under many circumstances, are not held to be crimes, we shall be tempted to exclaim, How miserable are these wretched people! the virtues have left their abode, and they are given up a prey to every evil passion! The picture is indeed dark, but we must throw a little more light upon it, and approach to take a nearer view.