T H E P A C I F I C O C E A N. 413 



had happened, they told us the name of the Futtafaihe '777- 



who was then king, and of thofe who had fucceeded, down < — -v— ^j 

 to Poulaho, who is the fifth fince that period ;. the firft being 

 an old man, at the time of the arrival of the fliips. 



From what has been faid of the prefent king, it would be 

 natural to fuppofe, that he had the highefl rank of any per- 

 fon in the iflands. But, to our great furprize, we found it 

 is not fo ; for Latoolibooloo, the perfon who was pointed out 

 to me as king, v*?hen I firft vifited Tongataboo, and three 

 women, are, in fome refpedts, fuperior to Poulaho himfelf. 

 On our inquiring, who thefe extraordinary perfonages were, 

 whom they diftinguifli by the name and title of Tammaha'^ I 

 we were told, that the late king, Poulaho's father, had a 

 fifter of equal rank, and elder than himfelf ; thai llie, by a 

 man who came from the illand of Feejee, had a fon and 

 two daughters; and that thefe three perfons, as well as 

 their mother, rank above Futtafaihe the king. We endea- 

 voured, in vain, to trace the reafon of this fingular pre- 

 eminence of the Tammahns ; for we could learn nothing be- 

 fides this account of their pedigree. The mother, and one 

 of the daughters, called Tooeela-kaipa, live at Vavaoo. 

 Latoolibooloo, the fon, and the other daughter, whofe name 

 is Moungoula-kaipa, refide at Tongataboo. The latter, is 

 the woman who is mentioned to have dined with me on the 

 sift of June. This gave occafion to our difcovering her fu- 

 periority over the king,, who would not eat in her prefence, 

 though Ihe made no fcruple to do fo before him, and re- 

 ceived from him the cuftomary obeifance, by touching her 

 foot. We never had an opportunity of feeing him. pay this 



*-The reader need not be reminded- that Tanioka, wiiich fignifies a Chief, in tlie 

 dialodl of Hamao, .and Tmnmaha, become the fame word, by the change of a fingle 

 letter, the articulation of which is not very flrongly marked. ; 



J mark- 



