will readily give half away to any one who may want it; and if any body else comes afterwards in like need, with the greatest good nature he will give half the remainder; scarcely saving himself any, though he may be very hungry.

If during the day a chief, mataboole, or mooa, but particularly a chief, finds himself fatigued with walking, or any other exercise, he lies down, and some of his attendants come and perform one of the three following operations upon him, viz. toogi-toogi, mili, or fota, i. e. being gently beaten upon, or having the skin rubbed, or having it compressed. These several operations are generally performed about the feet and legs; the first by constant and gentle beating with the fist; the second by rubbing with the palm of the hand; and the last by compressing or grasping the inte guments with the fingers and thumb. They all serve to relieve pain, general lassitude, and fatigue; they are mostly performed by the wives or female domestics of the party; and it is certain that they give very great ease, producing a soothing effect upon the system, and lulling to sleep. Headach is found to be greatly relieved by compressing the skin of the forehead and the scalp in general. Sometimes, when a man is much fatigued, he will lie on the ground whilst three or four little children trample upon him all over; and the relief given by this operation is very great.

Such is the history of the politics, religion, and knowledge,—and the manners, customs, and habits of the people of the Tonga Islands; and all

that remains now to be done, is to furnish an ac

count of their language. For this purpose we have constructed a grammar and dictionary, or at least an extensive vocabulary, which contains, it is presumed, more than eight-tenths of the genuine Tonga words, accentuated as they are pronounced by chiefs and those who think it an honour to speak correctly. The greater part of those words which are omitted, are such as may be termed technical, belonging to their arts, and which, therefore, are easily forgotten, as expressing objects and actions which Mr Mariner is no longer accustomed to. At the same time it must be confessed, that there are a few other objects which are more familiar, but of which, also, by an unfortunate lapse of memory, the Tonga is forgotten. Among these we may mention the rainbow, the word for which Mr Mariner has in vain endeavoured to recover: but these are imperfections to which all human endeavours are liable. If it be asked, what is the use to us of a grammar and dictionary of the language of an uncivilized people, with whom cultivated nations have so little concern? the answer is, that as the structure of their speech forms part of the history of the human mind, it may be found in some degree interesting to the philologist, and still more so to the philosopher.

VOL. II.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX.

No. I.

A

GRAMMAR

OF THE

TONGA LANGUAGE.

A LANGUAGE which is only spoken by a nation ignorant of every principle of grammatical construction, and possessing not the least knowledge, nor the most remote idea, either in theory or practice, of the art of writing, cannot be supposed to be richly endowed with variety of words, choice of expression, or clear and accurate definitions, except of those ideas which are in common use. The rules by which it is spoken, and which can have no other security or foundation but in the constant habit of those who speak it, are nevertheless sufficiently well established; and if we could but readily and for a time emancipate our minds from a sense of the nicer grammatical distinctions in our own languages, it is presumed that the Tonga dialect, and perhaps others of the same class, would be found very simple and easy to be attained. But, as it is, the wide differences of our own habits of speech, will give it the appearance of a language replete with idioms, and abounding in circumlocutions.

The orthography of this language, from Mr Mariner's pronunciation, I have settled according to the following rules; First, in respect to the vowels,

A is always pronounced as in the English words, tar, car, papa; or in the French article la, except when two consonants follow, when its sound is much less open, approaching very near to the a, in man, can, began.

E, like the English a, in ray, say, day, or the French accented é in accablé ordonné; except where a double consonant fol lows, or tch, then it is sounded as in men, ten, den.

I, like the English e, in see, we, be, or i, as it is pronounced in