the orders of their chiefs to the owners of the neighbouring plantations to send a supply of refreshments, such as pork, yams, fowls, and ripe plantains.

The company of chiefs having divided themselves into two parties, set out about ten minutes after the boóhi, (or company that distributes the bait) and follow one another closely in a row along the middle of the road, armed with bows and arrows. It must be noticed, however, that the two parties are mixed; the greatest chief, in general, proceeding first, behind him one of the opposite party, then one of the same party with the first, and behind him again one of the other party, and so on alternately. The rules of the game are these: no one may shoot a rat that is in advance of him, except he who happens to be first in the row (for their situations change, as will directly be seen); but any one may shoot a rat that is either abreast of him or behind him. As soon as a man has shot, whether he hits the rat or not, he changes his situation with the man behind him, so that it may happen that the last man, if he have not shot so often as the others, may come to be first, and vice versa, the first come to be last: and for the same reason, two or three, or more, of the

same party, may come to be immediately behind one another. Whichever party kills ten

事

rats first, wins the game. If there be plenty of rats, they generally play three or four games. As soon as they arrive at any cross roads they pull up the reeds placed as a taboo, that passengers coming afterwards may not be interrupted in their progress. When they have arrived at the place where the boóhi are waiting, they sit down and partake of what is prepared for them; afterwards, if they are disposed to pursue their diversion, they send the boóhi on to prepare another portion of the road: the length of road prepared at a time is generally about a quarter of a mile. If, during the game, any one of either party sees a fair shot at a bird, he may take aim at it; if he kills it, it counts the same as a rat, but whether he hits it or not, if he ventures a shot, he changes place with the one behind him. Every now and then they stop and make a peculiar noise with the lips, like the squeaking of a rat, which frequently brings them out of the bushes, and they sit upright on their haunches, as if in the attitude of listening. If a rat is alarmed by their approach, and is running away, one or more cry out too! (stop!) with a sudden percussion of the tongue, and is used, we may

suppose, on account of the sharp and sudden tone with which it may be pronounced. This has generally the effect of making the rat stop, when he sits up, and appears too much frightened to attempt his escape. When he is in the act of running away, the squeaking noise with the lips, instead of stopping him, would cause him to run faster. They frequently also use another sound, similar to what we use when we wish to answer in the affirmative without opening the lips, consisting in a sort of humming noise, sounding through the nostrils, but rather more short and sudden. The arrows used on these occasions are nearly six feet long, (the war-arrows being about three feet,) made of reed, headed with iron-wood: they are not feathered, and their great length is requisite, that they may go straight enough to hit a small object; besides which, it is advantageous in taking an aim through a thick bush. Each individual in the party has only two arrows, for, as soon as he has discharged one from his bow, it is immediately brought to him by one of the attendants who follow the party. The bows also are rather longer than those used in war, being about six feet, the war-bows being about four feet and a half; nor are they so strong, lest

the difficulty of bending them should occasion a slight trembling of the hand, which would render the aim less certain.

Finow and his friends having finished their shooting excursion, and taken some refreshment, directed their walk at random across the island, and arrived near a rock, noted by the natives as being (in their estimation) the immediate cause of the origin of all the Tonga islands. It happened once (before these islands were in existence) that one of their gods (Tangaloa) went out a fishing with a line and hook: it chanced, however, that the hook got fixed in a rock at the bottom of the sea, and, in consequence of the god pulling in his line, he drew up all the Tonga islands, which, they say, would have formed one great land; but the line accidentally breaking, the act was incomplete, and matters were left as they now are. They show a hole in the rock, about two feet diameter, which quite perforates it, and in which Tangaloa's hook got fixed. It is moreover said that Tooitonga (the divine chief) had, till within a few years, this very hook in his possession, which had been handed down to him by his forefathers; but, unfortunately, his house catching fire, the basket in which the hook was kept got burnt with its

contents. Mr. Mariner once asked Tooitonga what sort of a hook it was, and was told that it was made of tortoiseshell, strengthened by a piece of the bone of a whale: in size and shape it was just like a large albacore hook, measuring six or seven inches long, from the curve to the part where the line was attached, and an inch and a half between the barb and the stem. Mr. Mariner objected that such a hook must have been too weak for the purpose; Oh no, said Tooitonga, you must recollect that it was a god's hook, and could not break;—how came then the line to break? was it not also the property of a god?--I do not know how that was, replied Tooitonga; but such is the account they give, and I know nothing farther about it.

A few days after this excursion, Finow having portioned out several of the smaller islands to the government of certain of his chiefs and matabooles, returned with his party to Vavaoo. As soon as he arrived at Felletoa, he issued orders for a general assembly of the people, to be present on an appointed day, at a general fono, or harangue, to be addressed to them in regard to the affairs of agriculture, and to remind them of their duty towards their chiefs, and how they ought to behave at all public