450 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



cast his eye upon a sail just as the 

 sun had descended beneath it, and 

 directed his men to paddle him on 

 board. As they made some scru- 

 ple, he gave a violent stab in the 

 loins with a musket to one of the 

 three, which disabled him, and the 

 other two submitted to his orders. 

 The vessel proved to be the Eng- 

 lish brig Favourite, bound to Ma- 

 cao roads, and thence to England. 

 To this fortunate esca])e, for such 

 it was, the history of the Tonga 

 islands owes its origin, as will ap- 

 pear from the preceding account 

 of its composition. His arrival at 

 Gravesend is dated in June 1811. 



From the voluminous narrative 

 relating to these isles we shidl only 

 copy the 17 th chapter, in which 

 are discussed the different ranks in 

 society under which the natives 

 are distributed, from the king to 

 the peasant. 



" The rank or estimation in 

 which individuals are held in society 

 at the Tonga islands may be most 

 conveniently treated of, first, under 

 three different points of view, viz. 

 religious, civil, and professional, 

 with reference to their mythology, 

 political subordination, and their 

 arts and manufactures ; and se- 

 condly, with reference to old age, 

 female sex, and infancy. In this 

 chapter, we propose to speak 

 merely of rank in society, and the 

 degree of respect due from one 

 man to another ; all which is de- 

 termined in regard to every indi- 

 vidual, by one or other, or more 

 of the foregoing circumstances, 

 mythology, politics, arts, age, sex, 

 and childhood. 



To divide societj into distinct 

 classes, and to discourse of the de- 

 gree of rank or respect accruing to 

 individuals, accordingly as they 



may belong to one or other of these 

 classes, would be a task very dif- 

 ficult to execute, and perhaps im- 

 possible in respect to the people of 

 these islands ; at least, not without 

 making numerous exceptions and 

 explanations, which would only 

 be the means of rendering the de- 

 scription both tedious and com- 

 plicate. For one and the same 

 individual (a priest), who to-day 

 is held in scarcely any estimation, 

 may to-morrow (under the influ- 

 ence of the inspiration of some 

 god), t<ike place of every body 

 present, seat himself at the head 

 of the cava ring, be respected as 

 the god himself, and his discourse 

 attentively listened to as oracular. 

 Again, — the king himself, whom 

 one might suppose to be the great- 

 est person in the country, (and in 

 fact he has the greatest power) is 

 by no means the highest noble, 

 but must yield in point of rank 

 to many others. In this order of 

 things, therefore, we shall first 

 speak of those persons to whom 

 rank and respect is yielded, on the 

 score of religious circumstances ; 

 and these are Tooitonga, Veachi, 

 and the priests. 



We here speak of Tooitonga as 

 if actually existing in his full rank, 

 with all the public honours of re- 

 ligious estimation ; but it will be 

 recollected, that before Mr. Mari- 

 ner's departure from Vavaoo the 

 king had done away entirely with 

 all the ceremonies formerly con- 

 sidered due to the divine character 

 of this chief ; and as this was done 

 immediately after Tooitonga's 

 death, his son did not succeed to 

 this high title ; so that if affairs 

 still remain in the same state at 

 Vavaoo, there is at present no 

 Tooitonga, and probably never 



again 



