MANNERS AND CUSTOMS. 



449 



there in quest of us, and in the 

 afternoon of the 7th, we bid adieu 

 to Palo Leat, where it is not won- 

 derful that, in our situation, we 

 should have suffered i«oine hard- 

 ship and privation ; but it is re- 

 markable, indeed, that, surround- 

 ed by so many dangers, the 

 occurrence of any one of which 

 would have proved fatal, that 

 we should have escaped the whole. 

 We had, for example, great 

 reason to be thankful that the 

 ship did not fall from the rocks 

 on which she first struck into 

 deeper water, for then all must 

 have perished ; — that no accident 

 happened to the boats which 

 conveyed the embassy to Batavia ; 

 for, in that case, we should never 

 have been heard of; — that we 

 found water ; — that no mutiny or 

 division took place among our- 

 selves ; — that we had been able 

 and willing to stand our ground 

 against the pirates ; — and that the 

 Ternate had succeeded in anchoring 

 in sight of the island ; which she 

 was enabled to do by a fortuitous 

 slant of wind for an hour or two. 

 Had we been unfortunate in any 

 one of these circumstances, few 

 would have remained to tell our 

 tale. 



An Account of the Natives of the 

 Tonga Islands in the South Pa' 

 cific Ocean. Compiled and arrange 

 edfrom the extensive Communica- 

 tions of Mr. William Mariner, 

 several years resident in those is- 

 lands. By John M.vnriN, M.D. 

 In y vols. 8vo. 

 The Tonga islands, named by 

 Capt. Cook the Friendly islands, 

 of whicii, (Mie of the principal was 

 known under the appellation of 

 Vol. LIX. 



Tongataboo, lie nearly in latitude 

 20 S. to the west of Olaheite. 

 William Mariner, then a youth, 

 was engaged by his father's con- 

 sent to accompany Captain Duck 

 in a ship wliich had a two-fold 

 commission, which was first to 

 cruise for prizes, and then to 

 double Cape Horn, and proceed 

 into the Pacific Occiin in search of 

 whales. The vessel, named the 

 Port-au-Prince, having met with 

 small success in the earlier part of 

 her cruise, entered upon the se- 

 cond part of her commission, and 

 employed a considerable part of 

 the year 1806 in whaling. At 

 length the sliip anchored for the 

 last time at Lefooga, one of the 

 Friendly Islands, where it was de- 

 serted, first by four of the crew, 

 and tlien by fifteen others. This 

 desertion was probably the cause 

 of an attack by the natives, which 

 took place on the first of Decem- 

 ber 1806, and ended in the death 

 of all the crew except Mariner, 

 wlio was probably preserved In 

 consequence of h\^ youth. He 

 fortunately attracted the notice of 

 Finow, the king of the islands, 

 before whom he w as brought, and 

 by whose orders the ship was run 

 aground and plundered. 



Mariner, who was born near 

 London, on September 10, 1791. 

 was somewhat past 15 at the time 

 of this unhappy event. Under the 

 patronage of Finow, and after his 

 death, of his son, he passed some 

 years in tolerable comfort ; and he, 

 with some of his remaining com- 

 panions who had gone ashore 

 before the massaci e, were engaged 

 to join an expedition against the 

 Isle of Tonga. At length, in the 

 year 1810, being with three other 

 men, in a canoe of his own, he 



<i Q C36t 



