the uniform and essential circumstances which always take place during this part of the ceremony of burying chiefs. We now come to speak of those which were peculiar to this particular in stance. On the day after the deceased How was put in the ground, the principal chiefs and matabooles requested the prince to intimate to Voona and certain other chiefs, their wish that they should go to the Hapai Islands. This he did; but, at the same time, gave them liberty to stop till the funeral ceremony was concluded. Voona received this intimation in a becoming manner, acknowledging the impropriety of his stay, if the people were any way jealous of his presence. The prince apologized for this step, urging the will of his people as his sole motive; and expressed with great warmth his wish, that he who had been so long his friend and companion could still remain his associate. 66 The following day, at a general assembly of the chiefs and matabooles, after the cava was prepared, and the two first cups handed out, the third, which, according to custom, is presented to the chief who presides, was next filled; and when an attendant, as usual, declared aloud that it was so, all eyes were fixed on the prince. The mataboole who sat next to him then exclaimed, “ Give it to Finow!"—and it was accordingly handed to him, whilst he preserved an appearance of perfect unconcern at the name by which, for the first time, he was called. * And this was a matter of no small importance; for had he appeared elated at this circumstance, he would have been thought a man of a weak mind, little calculated to be a supreme See Note, p. 303. chief. As soon as all the cava was served out and drunk, Finow addressed the company to the following purport: "Listen to me, chiefs and warriors!-If any among you are discontented with the present state of affairs,- -now is the time to go to Hapai; for no man shall remain at Vavaoo with a mind discontented, and wandering to other places. I have seen with sorrow the wide destruction occasioned by the unceasing war carried on by the chief now lying in the malái. We have indeed been doing a great deal, but what is the result?-The land is depopulated! it is overgrown with weeds, and there is nobody to cultivate it: had we remained peaceful, it would have been populous still. The principal chiefs and warriors are fallen, and we must be contented with the society of the lower -class. What madness! Is not life already too short? Is it not a noble characteristic in a man to remain happy and peaceful in his station? What folly then to seek for war, to shorten that which is already too short! Who is there among us who can say, 'I wish to die-I am weary of life?' Have we not then been acting like those of no understanding? Have we not been madly seizing the very thing which deprives us of what we really want? Not that we ought to banish all thoughts of fighting! If any power approach us with the front of battle, and attempt to invade our rights, our fury and bravery shall be excited more, in proportion as we have more possessions to defend. Let us therefore confine ourselves to agriculture, for that is truly guarding our country. Why should we be anxious for an in VOL. I. 2 D I crease of territory? Our land is quite large enough to supply us with food,- -we shall not even be able to devour all its produce! But perhaps I am not speaking to you wisely! The old matabooles are present; I beg them to tell me if I am wrong. am yet but a youth, and, on that account, should be unfit to govern, if my mind, like that of the deceased chief, sought not the advice of others. For your loyalty and fidelity towards him, however, I return you my sincere thanks. Finow Fiji, who is present, and the matabooles, know well my frequent inquiries concerning the good of our government. Do not then say, Wherefore do we listen to the idle talk of a boy? Recollect, whilst I speak to you, my voice is the echo of the sentiments of Toe Oomoo, and Oooloovaloo, and Afoo, and Fotoo, and Alo, and all the high chiefs and matabooles of Vavaoo.-Listen to me! I remind you, that if there be any among you discontended with this state of affairs, the present is the only opportunity I will give to depart. For, let pass this occasion, and not afterwards, shall we communicate with Hapai. Choose therefore your dwelling-places. There is Fiji, there is Hamoa, there is Tonga, there is Hapai, there is Fotoona and Lotooma!-Those men in particular having minds unanimous, loving to dwell in constant peace, they alone shall remain at Vavaoo and its neighbouring isles. Yet will I not suppress the bravery of any one warlike spirit :-Behold! the islands of Tonga and Fiji are constantly at war. Let him there display his courage. Arise! go to your respective habitations; and recollect, that to-morrow the canoes depart for Hapai."* * For the original of this fine speech, and a literal nue. Finow having finished, went to his house, accompanied by the sons of his chiefs and matabooles, who, together with his warriors, formed his retiAfter a repast, provided beforehand, he again made an address, but in a more familiar and conversational way, on the advantages of cultivating land for one's own food, and eating the produce of one's own labour; and to strengthen his argument, he observed, that, hitherto in Tonga, it had been the custom for those who formed the retinue of chiefs, to subsist on the provision which those chiefs thought proper to share out to them from their own store; and that during the great famine (which happened many years before, while he was yet but a boy), he had remarked that more of these men (chiefs' dependents) had died than of the lower orders, who tilled the ground for their own support, as well as that of their chiefs, because they always found means to reserve food for themselves, however great might be the tax, while those who depended on the bounty of their chiefs, got but a very scanty allowance. He then went on, "You do not know how much pleasure such men feel when they view the work of their own hands thriving daily; and, whilst eating, when they reflect that their labour has been repaid by the increase of their stores. Therefore let us translation, see the latter part of the Grammar. Mr Mariner had in a manner learnt it off by heart, for it was so universally admired, that it was in every body's mouth for a long time after. *They often have cava parties, where little is eaten, which was the case with that where he made the above speech. Those who are fond of cava seldom eat much with it, conceiving that food destroys its genuine taste, and prevents its due effect upon the system. (chiefs and attendants of chiefs) apply ourselves, as we have nothing else to do, to agriculture. Follow my example; I will order a piece of ground to be cleared, and, during the next rain, I will assist in planting it with hiabo." No other circumstances worthy of note happened during the twenty days concluding the burial ceremony. On the tenth day, those who were not relations of the deceased, nor constituted his household, wore a sort of half-mourning, that is to say, under their mats they wore a piece of gnatoo, not to be seen, but merely to be more comfortable to the skin than the mats, which, on these occasions, are not of the finest texture. After the twentieth day they wore their ordinary dress, and went to their proper habitations; so did also the relations of the deceased; but then these wore mats for about two months afterwards, though with gnatoo under them. We now come to speak of the transactions of the twentieth day, which concludes the whole ceremony. Early in the morning of this day, all the relations of the deceased chief, together with those who formed his household, and also the women who were tabooed by having touched his dead body, whilst oiling and preparing it, went to the back of the island (without any particular order or ceremony) to procure a number of flat pebbles, principally white, but a few black, for which they made baskets on the spot to carry them in, as before mentioned, when they went to procure sand. With these they returned to the grave, and strewed the inside of the house with the white ones, and also the outside about the fytoca, as a decora> |
