322 FORTIFICATIONS. [1840 



these are curled about the young childreji when laid down 

 upon the larger mats, or are used as screens by the females, 

 to hide their persons when seated on the floor and engaged at 

 their occupations. Fans are made of the same material with 

 the mats, and both are often highly ornamented. In addition 

 to their other uses, the mats of the Tongese are their couches 

 at night; their pillow is made of a strip of bamboo, supported 

 on legs from eight to ten inches high ; if the weather be very 

 cool they cover themselves with their lighter mats, and in the 

 summer they are obliged to swathe fine tapa cloth about their 

 limbs and bodies to protect them from the troublesome mus- 

 quitoes. 



Nukualofa, near the northern end of Tongataboo, and Le- 

 fooka on the island of Hapa'i, are the largest towns in the 

 group. The former contains between six and seven hundred 

 houses, and is situated on the hill before mentioned, being half 

 imbosked amid a grove of bread-fruits and cocoas, which pro- 

 tect it from the fierce radiance of the tropical sun, and sheltei 

 it from the destructive hurricanes. This is a fortified town, 

 being defended by a high wall or embankment made of earth 

 and logs, which is surrounded by a ditch. On the top of the 

 parapet there is a wicker-work fence, from five to eight feet 

 high, and in some places of several thicknesses. Narrow 

 openings through the glacis, terminating in gateways admit 

 ting the passage of two persons abreast, and which can be 

 easily filled up with earth, constitute the entrances to the 

 fort. Hollow logs are placed obliquely in the embankment 

 which are used as loop-holes for the musketry. Most of the 

 other towns in the group are similarly fortified. 



The Tongese are fond of the water. They are daring and 

 expert sailors and swimmers. Some of their canoes are one 

 hundred feet long. Th*ey are made like those in use among 

 the inhabitants of the Feejee Group. The double canoes 

 will often hold from forty to fifty persons ; they consist of 

 two single ones united together by a deck or platform project- 

 ing two or three feet beyond the canoes on each side. One 

 of these canoes is smaller than the other ; it serves the pnr- 



