come to this island with him, went on board their canoes, and returned back to Lefooga, and, shortly after, all the Vavaoo people, except the greater part of the matabooles of the late Toobo Neuha, who were detained by Finow, pursued their course to Vavaoo.

About a fortnight after their departure, there arrived a canoe from Vavaoo with a mataboole, and thirty or forty men, who were well affected towards Finow. They brought the unexpected information, that the people of that island, at the instigation, and under the guidance of their chief, Toe Oomoo (Finow's aunt), had come to the resolution of freeing themselves from the dominion of the king, and of erecting themselves into a separate nation. Toe Oomoo, it seems, had made a speech to her chiefs, in which she declared, that she found it expedient to shake off the yoke of Finow; for, although she was his aunt, she could not but remember with gratitude the obligations she laid under to. Toobo Neuha, and the respect that was due to his memory: Toobo Neuha, she said, had been her particular friend, and she was determined to act in a manner worthy the honour of so great a man's friendship. She then appealed to her chiefs and matabooles,

demanding of them their opinion, and whether they also did not think it expedient to free themselves from the tyranny of Finow. Here a consultation began, which was kept up a considerable time, without coming to any determination, some arguing rather in favour of Finow's conduct, others rather against it; till, at length, an old woman (sister to Toe Oomoo), rushed into the middle of the assembly, armed with a club and spear, and brandishing them in the air, demanded, with a loud voice, why they hesitated so long in an affair, in which honour clearly pointed out the only proper path to pursue; "but," she added, "if the

"men

are turned women, the women shall "turn men, and revenge the death of their "murdered chief; let, then, the men stand "idly looking on, and, when we women are "sacrificed in the glorious cause, the example may, perhaps, excite them to fight and die "in the same spirited endeavour to support "and defend their rights." The warlike declaration of this heroine roused the chiefs into a state of activity, and they speedily came to a resolution to build a large and strong fortress, and to put themselves in a state of defence against any incursions that Finow might make

upon them, or, rather, which Toobo Toa might spur him on to make.

The proposed fortress was to be the largest that ever was known in the Tonga islands, to be, in short, a fortified town, capable of holding all the inhabitants of Vavaoo (about 8000 in number), with their houses and buryingplaces, to be built round the Mooa*, and constructed, as usual, of reed fencings, much on the same plan as that of Nioocalofa, formerly described, but to be surrounded by a deep and firm-set bank of solid clay, about twelve feet high, with a ditch on the inner side of it, from which the clay would be furnished, and thus be proof against the guns: within this ditch, and next the fencing, was to be another bank of clay, smaller than the other. The whole of the materials of the fencing was to be proportionably strong and good.

Among a great deal of information which the old mataboole communicated, was that respecting the bravado of a Vavaoo warrior, who declared his utter contempt of the guns. It is customary for every professed warrior, before he goes to battle, or expects the coming

* The chiefs' houses are generally situated together, and this place is called the Mooa, the metropolis of the island.

of an enemy, to give himself the name of some one particular person, whom he means to single out and fight. This warrior, however, instead of assuming the name of one of the enemy, proudly called himself Fana Fonnooa (a great gun), declaring that he would run boldly up to a cannon and throw his spear into the mouth

of it.

When Finow was informed of these proceedings of the Vavaoo people, he immediately resolved to make a descent upon them with a powerful force, and reduce them into subjection before they could have completed their designs but the priests dissuaded him from this hasty project, and proposed, that it would be much more acceptable to the gods to make, in the first place, an offer of reconciliation. The king, however, had not much respect for the priests, and though he sometimes conformed with their advice, it was generally because it tallied with his own opinion, or he did it for the mere outside shew of veneration for the gods his want of religion was, indeed, almost proverbial, and, on this account, the people often wondered that he was so successful in war. In this particular instance he was so exasperated at the conduct of his aunt, that not the persuasion of the priests, nor the ad

monitions of the gods, could prevent him turning his immediate attention to the necessary preparations for a speedy attack on Vavaoo. Intermediate and unexpected events, however, put a stop, for a time, to these preparations.

At this period, there arrived from Hamoa (the Navigator's islands), Finow's son and heir, Moegnagnongo, after an absence of five years; with him came another great chief, whose name was Voona, and who had formerly been chief of Vavaoo; they and their retinue had sailed from Hamoa in six canoes, one of which containing sixty persons, and all Moegnagnongo's treasures, was lost in a gale of wind. In their way they had touched at Vavaoo, not knowing the political situation of the island, and were very near being forcibly detained; but, observing something suspicious in the conduct of the people, they put off to sea again, and thus made their escape in time.

Their arrival at Lefooga occasioned great feasting and rejoicing, which lasted many days, and served to divert the king from his immediate warlike projects.

Two daughters of chiefs had, for several years, been kept apart, and reserved to be the wives of the young prince (as we shall beg leave to call him, to avoid the frequent repe