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to those of the negro than any we had yet seen. His hair was woolly, his face prominent, and his lips thick. His nose, however, was not remarkably broad; his eyes were small, deeply sunk, and had a lively

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expression; his countenance was pleasing and intelligent, and his cheeks thin; his limbs were slender, and the calf of his leg high.*

We also found some of the Feejee islanders here: the intercourse between Tonga and the windward islands of the Feejee Group, is frequent. This intercourse is said to be the cause of the warlike habits which the Tongese have acquired. The people of Feejee appear to disadvantage when contrasted with those of Tonga; for the latter have much larger frames, their colour is several shades lighter, and their hair straight and fine, while that of the Feejee is frizzled.

The women of the Tonga Group are equally remarkable for their personal beauty.

The natives of Tonga, from the missionaries' accounts, are industrious and ingenious; much attachment exists between husband and wife, and they are very fond of their children. We were surprised at their numbers, which give a striking air of cheerfulness and gaiety t the scene, when they are seen in groups, playing, and practising many kinds of jugglery.

As far as we observed, the Tongese are very fond of amusements, and smoking tobacco is absolutely a passion with them; this is raised by themselves: the leaf is cut up very fine, and then rolled within a fine pandanus-leaf, forming a cigar. The Christian party are not

* Among other peculiarities of this native of Erromago, it was stated by the low whites, that instead of wrapping himself up in tapa at night, like the Tongese, he was in the habit of burying himself in the sand in order to avoid the musquitoes.

allowed to smoke, although they use large quantities of ava, made of the Piper mythisticum, which has more intoxicating and deleterious effects than tobacco. So singular an interdiction of the one, with the free use of the other, induced me to ask Mr. Tucker the reason of it, and why, if they had only the power to prevent the use of one, they did not prohibit the most pernicious? The only answer I got was, that it would be a pity to break up their ava circles. I believe that few rise from them without being somewhat stupified, but it does not. amount to actual intoxication. The manner in which these natives use tobacco is one of the most pleasing of their social customs, and shows an absence of all selfishness; it is the same as at the Samoan Group, where the person who lights a pipe seldom gets more than two whiffs of its contents, as it is immediately passed around.

As a people they may be termed warlike; and war-councils, making speeches, and drinking ava, may be called the business of their lives.

The women are said to be virtuous; their employments are to make tapa, mats, baskets, &c., and do the housework. The men cultivate the ground, and fish. The females are more in the habit of using lime-water and lime on their hair than those we have seen elsewhere. This application turns it red, but its chief use is to promote cleanliness. Of the ingenuity of the men we saw many proofs, in their manufacture of boxes, baskets, and miniature canoes.

The last day I visited Nukualofa, Mr. Tucker was kind enough to take me to see Tamahaa, the aunt of Tui Tonga, who is considered of divine origin, for which reason great respect and honours are paid. her. It is said that she has great influence with the heathen, although being a convert, she is favourable to the Christian side. As a token of the great respect with which she is regarded, it was remarked that the natives never turn the back upon her until at thirty or forty feet distance, and never eat in her presence. She is old enough to remember the arrival of Cook when she was a child. We found her sitting in her house, with a child who could just walk, (both enclosed in a rolled screen, before described,) whom she was feeding with cocoanut pulp. We shook hands and sat some time with her, making many inquiries about the former persons of the island, which the entertaining volumes of Dr. Martin, relating the adventures of Mariner, had made me acquainted with. She seemed to know Togi Uummea, the name by which Mariner was known, and also most of the people mentioned in Mariner's account.

On a visit to the missionaries, I found Tubou or King Josiah, who had been sitting for his picture, and had fallen fast asleep. Wishing to get some information from him, I felt desirous of waking him up,

and for that purpose asked him some questions about the kingly sport of rat-hunting, described in Mariner's Tonga Islands, and whether he could not indulge me with an exhibition of a hunt. His eyes at once brightened, and he became aroused to great animation, as though his former feats and pleasure in this sport were vividly before him. He regretted that the present state of the island, and the all-engrossing war, occupied too much of their attention to allow them to engage in any such peaceful occupation. He was represented to be a great sportsman, and the animation with which he spoke gave evident proof of it. He said that the game or sport was now seldom practised; that the rats had in consequence, much increased, and were a great annoyance to the cultivator;-but the war seemed to engross all the powers of his feeble mind. He told me that the heathen in all had fifteen hundred warriors; that they usually made war by attacking the taro and yam-grounds; these they plunder and destroy, which ultimately produces a famine, not only to their enemies but to themselves. He seemed to rejoice that the heathen had made the first attack, as they would thereby, according to their belief, be conquered. He told me he much desired peace and quietness, and was willing to do any thing to bring it about; and as far as he was personally concerned, I believe he was in earnest, for every one seemed to give him the credit of being an imbecile sleepy fellow, and paid him little or no respect.

During this visit I also saw a noted Feejee warrior, who had been absent from Tonga many years, and on his return had been engaged in these wars; he was described as a very wicked fellow, and if so, I can only say that his looks did not belie him: a worse or more brutallooking man I have seldom seen. I understood that his arrival had been looked for with much impatience by the heathen, as affording them additional strength in a noted leader; but, to the surprise of all, he joined himself to King George, and desired to become a Christian; he was received as such, and was now employed fighting against the heathen.

On the evening of the day on which King George visited the ship, he held a council, in which he addressed his chiefs and warriors on the necessity of carrying on the war with vigour; and measures were taken to prosecute it accordingly. The meeting took place in the malai opposite his house, while he sat in the doorway with his two children, with the church-people forming a circle around him. At this meeting was seen the noted chief and Feejee warrior who has already been spoken of, fully armed, in the background. After the council had debated and talked over the subject fully, King George gave some commands, which several messengers were sent to execute

and the council was dismissed in a truly primitive style and language: "Let every man go and cook his yams."

After the assemblage was dismissed, the king and chiefs remained some time in consultation. In this council, an attack upon the heathen towns was arranged. The next morning, smoke was seen ascending from some of the heathen villages, and word was brought to me afterwards, that King George, having sallied forth with eight hundred warriors at midnight, had burned two of the heathen towns. Although he had ordered seven hundred more warriors to follow him at daylight, he did not pursue the heathen, who fled before him. On his return in the evening he held an ava feast in honour of his success; at this meeting, Lavaka and Ata, or the chiefs who held these titles, were formally degraded from their offices by the king,-a stroke of policy that is thought will have much influence in alienating this people, as it has usually had that effect; I, however, very much question its success in the present instance, when the parties have such a deadly animosity towards each other; for the very authority by which the act of degradation is performed, has abandoned the religion by which the act was sanctioned.

The population of the Tonga Islands, as now given by the missionaries, is 18,500, viz.:

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At present the number on Tonga is increased by about one thousand. About four thousand five hundred of the natives are Christians, of whom two thousand five hundred are church members.

The jurisdiction of Tui Kanakabolo, or Lord of Kanakabolo, used to extend to Uea or Wallis Island, and several of the smaller islands in the neighbourhood.

This group of islands is divided into three missionary stations, viz..

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The smaller

The missionaries reside at each of these stations.

islands are under the care of native teachers, and are visited occa

sionally by the missionaries to marry and baptize, &c. There is a printing-press established at Vavao, which has been in operation since 1832. Many of the women can sew, and a great number of the natives have learned to read and write; a few of them have been taught the rules of arithmetic, and the principles of geography. A very great improvement has taken place in the morals of the Christian part of the community; but the attachment of the people to their ancient usages is so strong, and the island so little visited by civilized nations, that they have not had that stimulus to improvement which others have derived from such advantages.

While I bear witness to the arduous labours and well-conducted operations of these missionaries, I cannot help remarking that I was disappointed in finding religious intolerance existing among them. It was to be expected, that among a class so devoted, and undergoing so many privations, dangers, and sacrifices for the cause they are engaged in, charity would not have been wanting; and that they would have extended a friendly hand to all, of whatever persuasion, who came within their sphere of duty, especially those engaged in similar duties with themselves; but an instance of intolerance came to my knowledge here, that I regretted to hear of. On board the Currency Lass were two Catholic missionaries, who had been in this small vessel of one hundred and twenty tons for five months, and three weeks of that time they were in this harbour, without having received even an invitation to visit the shore from the Wesleyan missionaries, nor were any civilities whatever offered or paid to them. I can easily conceive why objections should be made to their preaching or remaining to propagate their creed in a field that was already occupied; but to withhold from them the common courtesies of life, in the present state of the world, surprised me not little; and I am satisfied that the example set in this case by the missionaries has caused much remark among the natives themselves upon this want of hospitality. They cannot understand the dogmas of the different sects of Christians, so that they naturally look upon them all as missionaries of this same faith, and cannot see why they should treat each other with less courtesy than is extended to those who are not missionaries. Their ideas of enemies only extend to those who fight, which they well know all missionaries refuse to do. Were missionaries aware of the unfavourable impression produced on the minds of most of the natives by such intolerance, it would never be practised, particularly as it is calculated to excite prejudices in strangers who visit their different mission stations, which not unfrequently so blinds them that they go away with unfavourable impressions. Every endeavour is frequently made by those whites

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