no means his friend; on the contrary, he endeavoured to persuade Finow to kill both him and the other Englishmen, lest a ship should arrive, and learning from them the fate of the Port au Prince, take an ample revenge for the injury done their countrymen. But Finow, fortunately, was not of this opinion; he conceived that white people were of too generous and forgiving a temper to take revenge, and therefore declined doing them any farther mischief.

As Mr Mariner had in his possession a few printed books and some writing paper, he was often found by Finow either writing or reading. One day the latter desired him to give up all his books and papers, which, when he had done, with the exception of a journal of the voyage, he had the mortification to find that they were ordered to be burnt. On requiring an explanation of this extraordinary conduct, on the part of a man who appeared on other occasions to be so much his friend, he was informed, through the medium of Tooi Tooi, that the king could not, on any account, allow him to practise witchcraft, to the injury of the Tonga people; and that it was well known to the king and many others, that those books and papers were instruments and means of invocation, to bring down some evil upon the country. Mr Mariner could not very well comprehend Tooi Tooi's interpretation; but when he afterwards understood the language, the king gave him the following:

"Some years ago, on the arrival of an European vessel, one of the white men came to live among them by choice. This man's name was Morgan. He lived for a considerable time on terms of great friendship with the natives, and was

much respected by them. Some time afterwards there came another European vessel," (the Duff, Captain Wilson, with the missionaries),* «and from this ship also there came several white men, to live by choice among them. The white men that came last built a house, in which they used often to shut themselves up, to sing and perform ceremonies, (as Finow expressed it). Matters went on very well for some time. At length a quarrel ensued between Morgan and the other white men, at first about an iron pot which he wanted to borrow of them, and then about some pigs which they said he had stolen from them. Upon this they informed the chiefs that this Morgan had been a bad man in his own country, and was under sentence of banishment for his crimes; but from the full execution of which he had escaped." (He had actually escaped from Botany Bay)." The people then began to treat Morgan with every species of insult, so that his life was very uncomfortable, and often in great danger. Morgan, in his turn, told the chiefs who they were, viz. that they were men sent out by the king of England to bring a pestilence upon the people of Tonga, and that they accordingly shut themselves up in this house, to perform witchcraft, and make incantations, which was the cause of the pestilence that then raged;" (there was an epidemic disease at the time, which was very fatal among the chiefs, two or three dying every day) " and that all their books were books of witchcraft. The chiefs began to take Morgan's statement into serious consideration; there certainly was a great mortality among them; the white men often assembled, and sang very

* See "Constable's Miscellany," vol. vii. p. 158.

loud; besides which, they would not let the Tonga people be present; and to prevent them even from peeping through the crevices of the reed fencing of the house, they stopt them up with all kinds of filth, knowing that the cleanliness of the Tonga people would not then allow them even to approach. And the chiefs said to themselves, if these people are doing no harm, why do not they allow us to be present? we do not conceal our ceremonies from them, why do not they expose theirs to us? In the mean while, Morgan said to the chiefs, You see the effect of their incantations; several of you are dying every day; by and by you will be all cut off, and the king of England will take possession of your islands; for although you have the remedy in your power, you will not make use of it.'-The chiefs took the alarm in time; they rushed upon the white men, and killed all but three, who were at that time under the protection of Veachi;' a great chief, hereafter to be noticed.

Such was the cause of the fate of the missionaries, as related by the king to Mr Mariner, who often afterwards heard the same relation from other chiefs. He inquired what became of the three that were under the protection of Veachi, and learnt that they were killed during a civil war. They might indeed have made their escape, along with some natives who invited them into a canoe, which was going to another island, but they chose to remain; urging for their reason, that they had not quarrelled with any of the Tonga people, and that consequently they should not be hurt. The

From the "Transactions of the Missionary Society," it appears that only three were killed.

others informed them, however, that it was the Tonga custom not only to kill an enemy, but also all his friends and relations, if possible; when the three missionaries replied, that, as they had done no harm, and meant no harm, their God would protect them. At this moment, a party of natives, who were lying in wait in a neighbouring thicket, rushed out and killed them with their spears.

But, to return from this digression, Mr Mariner and his companions, ignorant of the language of the country, and of the customs of the people, were often much distressed for want of food. Sometimes, indeed, it was brought to them, but often not. Sometimes they were invited by the natives to walk into their houses and eat with them; but frequently they seemed to be quite neglected, and were reduced to the necessity of procuring what they wanted by stealth. At length, through Tooi Tooi's interpretation, Mr Mariner made known their wants to the king, upon which the latter seemed greatly surprised at their apparent stupidity; and inquired how food was obtained in England. On hearing that every man procured the necessary supplies for himself and family by purchase, and that his friends, for the most part, only partook by invitation, and that strangers were seldom invited, he laughed at what he called the ill-nature and selfishness of the white people; and told Mr Mariner the Tonga custom was far better; that he had nothing to do, when he felt himself hungry, but to go into any house where eating and drinking were going forward, seat himself down without invitation, and partake with the

company. After this, the generality of the natives made this selfishness, as they considered it, of the Europeans, quite proverbial; and when any stranger came into their houses to eat with them, they would say jocosely, "No! we shall treat you after the manner of the Papalangis; go home, and eat what you have got, and we shall eat what we have got!'

Mr Mariner and his companions, about five in number, (for the others were dispersed upon different islands), began now to be heartily tired of their new life, and requested the king to give them a large canoe, that they might rig it as a sloop, and, with his permission, endeavour to make Norfolk Island on their way to New Holland; but this he refused, under pretext that the canoe would be too weak to stand the sea. On farther solicitation, however, he gave them leave to build a vessel for the express purpose; but, in the progress of the work, happening unfortunately to notch one of their axes, he refused any longer the use of them. Thus cut off from all present hopes of escape, it became more than ever necessary to conform their minds to the manners and customs of the people whom they were among; but, in a short time, the ever-changing events of war served to create a degree of activity in the mind, destructive of disagreeable reflections and fruitless regrets.

As we are now about to enter upon a new scene of things, in which the political interests of these islands are particularly concerned, it becomes necessary to afford a general view of their history, from the time of Captain Cook; and, particularly, for the twelve or fifteen years previous to Mr