tory, the natives passed to the shore. I received them in my tent, and the first words spoken were to inform me that they had come to the conference; and they asked where their adversaries were? Being well aware that they had avoided coming the day before, and had gone out to make battle, instead of coming as appointed to the meeting, and that they knew the chiefs of Moa had returned, I took care to let them know that I was not to be imposed upon by such a trick. When they saw they could not deceive me, they seemed disposed to laugh it off; but finding that their chiefs and warriors (upwards of one hundred) were all armed, I took care to retort upon them for their want of confidence, and to tell them how unlike it was to their profession of Christianity, and that they must show a proper disposition, before the white people would give them any credit for being Christians. I then took the two kings with me on board the ship, leaving their canoe to follow. Shortly after we had embarked, King George's followers, finding a canoe on the beach owned by three natives of Rotuma, who reside at Moa, stole the paddles out of it, turned it over, and set it adrift. On making it known to King George, however, he promised recompense, but would not punish or seek to find out the perpetrators of the deed. I felt provoked that the king should not have had more control over them. He in truth seeins to exercise very little power over his people. The kings were shown over the ship, and several guns were fired, which they pretended to wonder at very much.

They remained on board upwards of an hour, and took lunch with me. I was much amused with their conduct; they ate heartily of every thing on the table, and finally crammed themselves with almonds and raisins, with a most unkingly appetite. They then requested leave to take some to their wives, which they tied up in the corner of their tapas. Before they left the ship, I presented King George (in the name of the government) with a handsome fowlingpiece, and King Josiah with a red silk umbrella, which highly delighted him. Their majesties were both naked, except the tapa wound around their waists; and it was a curious sight to see them endeavouring to imitate us in the use of knives and forks. They left the ship highly delighted with their presents and visit, embarked in their canoe, and proceeded to Nukualofa, all joining again in the same chorus. The canoe was nearly level with the water, and appeared like a floating mass of human beings.

Thus ended my hopes of effecting the desired reconciliation between the two parties. The heathen are represented by the Christian party and missionaries, as a set of cruel savages, great liars, treacherous,

and evil-disposed; and this character seems to be given to them only because they will not listen to the preaching; and it is alleged they must therefore be treated with severity, and compelled to yield. Under these feelings it was in vain to expect to produce a reconciliation; and, had I been aware of them, I should not have attempted the task. I must here record, that in all that met our observations, the impression was, that the heathen were well-disposed and kind, and were desirous of putting an end to the difficulties.

Several of the officers visited Moa. In order to reach it, it is necessary to pass in boats through a large shallow lagoon, and it must be crossed nearly at high water, or the channel will be found very tortuous. The town or village is situated a little above the general level; it is surrounded by a ditch, which has little depth, as the coral rock is soon reached, and is not cut into. The intrenchment is composed of earth and logs, over which is a wicker fence, like that at Nukualofa; at the gates the ditch is interrupted, so as to form entrances, which are narrow and low. On the inside a guard-house with a sentinel was found; within the intrenchment was a high and well-built fence, and inside again were separate enclosures. They were led to the house of Faatu, the principal chief, who treated them with civility and kindness; they found him to possess both dignity and politeness. In his house were several Tonga drums, which were offered The natives were in great numbers, of all ages and sexes. A brisk trade was carried on for the supplies we needed; and although Faatu took no active part, yet the whole was evidently under his supervision.

as seats.

The missionaries were kind enough to give me the following outline of the belief of the heathen belonging to this group of islands. They worship many gods, who are believed to possess unlimited power over them, and are called the gods of Bulotu or Atua faka Bulotu, whom they believe immortal; some of these gods are of this world, and are called Atua.

They believe that all evil is inflicted by certain gods, called Atua Banuu; that the spirits of all chiefs go to Bulotu; but that those of poor people remain in this world, to feed upon ants and lizards; that the island of Bulotu is not distant, although they do not attempt to fix its locality; that both gods and goddesses have visited Tonga within thirty years past, when they drank ava in their temples, and were married to Tonga chiefs; that the higher gods or those of Bulotu do not consider lying, theft, adultery, murder, &c., as crimes, but as things of this world, which are left for the inferior gods to deal with, and do not concern their more elevated natures. The only crime

against the higher gods is sacrilege, committed towards their temples, or an improper use of the offerings. They call their oldest god Maui, and say that he drew the world or islands out of the sea with a hook and line the first he drew up he named Ata, which is referred to Pylstart; the next was Tonga, with all its group of islands; then Lofanga and the other Hapai islands; and last, the Vavao Group. After he had finished his work, he came and fixed his residence at Tonga. In those days the sky was so near the earth that men were obliged to crawl. One day Maui is represented as having met an old woman with water in a cocoa-nut shell, of whom he begged. some drink, which she refused until he promised to send the sky up high, which he did, by pushing it up, and there it has remained ever since. To Maui is ascribed the origin of that most useful tree called toa, the iron-wood (Casuarina), which in time reached the sky, and enabled the god called Etumatubua to descend. Maui had two sons, the eldest called Maui Atalonga, and the younger Kijikiji, but by whom is not known. Kijikiji obtained some fire from the earth, and taught them to cook their food, which they found was good, and from that day food has been cooked which before was eaten raw. In order to preserve the fire, Kijikiji commanded it to go into certain trees, whence it is now obtained by friction. They further say, that during the time old Maui was on the earth, the only light was like that of the moon, and that neither day nor night existed; that Maui and his two sons live under the earth, where he sleeps most of his time; that when he turns himself over, he produces earthquakes, which they call "mofooeke." Maui is not now worshipped by any tribe, nor is he loved or feared.

Tangaloa, their second god, is thought to be nearly as old as Maui, and equal to him in dignity. He resides in the skies, which the Tongese believe to be very numerous. Hikuleo is the god of spirits,

and is the third in order of time; he dwells in a cave in the island. Bulotu is most remarkable for a long tail, which prevents him from going farther from the cave in which he resides than its length will admit of. In this cave he has feasts, and lives with his wives, by whom he has many children; he has absolute power over all, and all are forced to go to him; he is a being without love or goodness; to him the spirits of the chiefs and mataboles go, becoming his servants, and are forced to do his will, and to serve for what purpose he pleases; he even uses them to make fences of, or as bars to his gates; and they have the idea that his house and all things in it are made of the spirits of people, where they continue to serve without end. They never pray to Bulotu, except when some sacrilege has

been committed to the offerings they make him; and on this occasion they always make a human sacrifice. They also invoke him when the Tui Tonga is sick; and it depends on the reigning Tui Kanakabolo whether or not a human sacrifice is offered. None but gods are ever permitted to come from Bulotu. This god has his spirit-temple where all their valuable presents to the gods are deposited. I was shown by the missionaries some large whale's teeth that were prettily carved, which had been found in the temple lately destroyed by the Christian party.

We saw here three natives of the island of Rotuma, who had been some time at Tonga: one of them was said to be a chief of high rank; another, an old man, a chief also, and a kind of Mentor to the former,

who spoke a little English, and was quite blind, having become so since he had left his own island. The old man seemed to feel great solicitude about his charge, and expressed a wish to get away from Tonga. The reason he gave me for this desire was, "there was too much fight here; it would be bad for the young chief, who was to be a king." He told me also there had been no war on his island for many years. It is generally known by the whalers and others, that at Rotuma, the people are the most peaceable of any of these Polynesian islanders and the whalers have been in the habit of resorting thither, because they experienced little difficulty, and are in no danger of being mo.ested by the natives. He mentioned that many of his islanders were now abroad, on board of whale-ships, where they earned good wages, and afterwards returned to the island-with some property; he said that

Rotuma contained very many people. He who was designated as the high chief, was a pleasing, handsome young man, and appeared modest and gentle in his deportment. Some thought he resembled in physiognomy our American Indians, but I did not myself remark it.

The natives of Tonga, in habits, customs, looks, and general appearance, are so like the Samoans, that we were greatly struck with the resemblance; indeed, in writing of Samoa, I mentioned that many things have been derived from Tonga, particularly their tapa covering from the waist downwards, called siapo. The two races also agree in having no covering for the head, and the females resemble each other. The missionaries, through the king's ordinance, have caused the females to clothe themselves up to the neck with the pareu; but this is only conformed to before the missionaries, for we as frequently saw it worn in the native fashion.

In colour the Tongese are a little lighter than the Samoans, and the young children are almost if not quite white. As they grow up, they are left, both males and females, to run about in a state of nature, with their hair cropped close, except a small curly lock over each ear. This is a practice which has before been spoken of, as prevalent among the Samoans. Indeed, the similarity between the appearance of the children in the two groups is such, that they might be mistaken for each other. A larger proportion of fine-looking people is seldom to be seen, in any portion of the globe; they are a shade lighter than any of the other islanders; their countenances are generally of the European cast; they are tall and well made, and their muscles are well developed. We had an opportunity of contrasting their physical characters with those of several other natives, and particularly with a native of Erromago. The features of the latter were more nearly allied