CHAPTER XIII. 



(1.) T?ie Tonga Islands. — (2.) Physical Geography. Climate. Productions. — 

 (3.) Population. Character and Appearance. Dress. Customs. Super- 

 stitions. — (4.) Houses Canoes — (5.) Missionaries. Wars between the 

 Christians and the. " Devil's Party."— (6.) Sailing of the Squadron, and 

 Arrival at the Feejee Group. 



.'[.) Among the many other important discoveries of the 

 eminent Dutch navigator, Abel Janssen Tasman, were the 

 Tonga Islands, or Hapa'i Group. He touched at Tongataboo 

 in 1642, and afterwards visited the Feejee Group ; but in 

 conformity with the general policy of his government, the 

 world was not enlightened in regard to his discoveries, till 

 other navigators had found their way to the islands. Captain 

 Cook first saw the Tonga Islands in 1773 ; he spent consider- 

 able time in the group, and in allusion to the kind and hos- 

 pitable treatment he received from the native inhabitants, 

 named them the Friendly Isles, by which term they are now 

 most commonly designated.* 



There are six principal islands : — Eooa, Tongataboo, 

 Hapa'i, Vavao, Keppel's Island, and Boscawen, — besides 

 which, there are a number of small and uninhabited isles, 

 visited by the natives only for fishing and obtaining biche de 

 mer. Eooa, and Tongataboo, or Tonga, are the southernmost 

 of the group, and the others lie further to the north ; all be- 

 ing included between the parallels of 17° and 22° south lati- 

 tude, and 172° and 176° west longitude. A strait eight 

 miles in width, separates Eooa from Tonga, and the other 



* The term " Friendly Islands" is often applied, as a general appellation, to 

 the extensive group embracing the Navigators', Feejee, and Tonga Islands. 



