458 ANNUAL REGISTER, 1817. 



kind regard ; they are therefore 

 not subjected to hard labour or 

 any very menial work. I'hose 

 that are nobles rank like the men 

 according to the superiority of 

 their relationship, If a woman 

 not a noble is tlie wife or daugh- 

 ter of a mataboole, she ranks 

 as a mataboole; if she be a no- 

 ble, she is superior in rank to 

 him, and so are the children male 

 and female ; but in domestic 

 matteis she submits entirely to his 

 arrangements ; notwithstanding 

 this, however^ she never loses the 

 respect from hei' husb;ind due to 

 her rank, that is to say, he is 

 obliged to perform the ceremony 

 of mo'e-mo'e before he can feed 

 himself. If the husband and wife 

 are both nobles of ecjual lank, the 

 ceremony of mo'c-mt/e is dis- 

 pensed with ; but where tiiere is 

 any difference the inftrior must 

 perform this ceremony to be freed 

 from the taboo. I f a woman mar- 

 ries a man higher in rank than 

 herself, she always deiives addi- 

 tional respect on that account ; 

 but a man having a wife who is a 

 greater noble than himself ac- 

 quires no additional respect from 

 this source, but he has the advan- 

 tage of her larger property. 



It is a custom in the Tonga 

 islands for women to be what 

 they call mothei-s to children or 

 grown up young persons who are 

 not their own, for the purpose of 

 providing them or seeing that they 

 are provided with all the conve- 

 niences of life ; and this is often 

 done, although their owu natural 

 mothers be living, and residing 

 near the spot, — no doubt for the 

 sake of greater care and attention, 

 or to be afterwards a substitute 

 for the true [)arent, in the event 



of her premature death ; but the 

 original intention seems not now 

 imderstood, for it happens some- 

 times, that a young man having 

 both his natural mother and a wife 

 living, will take it in his head to 

 have an adopted mother, whom 

 he regards the same as his natural 

 l)arent. If a woman is the foster 

 mother to a person superior to 

 herself, which is mostly the case, 

 she acquires no additional respect 

 from this source in society, though 

 the adopted person be ever so 

 great a noble ; but if a woman is 

 an attendant to a person of con- 

 sequence, some respect always 

 accrues to her on that account, 

 because it is a thing publicly 

 known, she forming a part of the 

 retinue of the chief, and accom- 

 panying him every where ; where- 

 as, the relation in which a woman 

 stands to her adopted son or 

 daughter is more a matter of pri- 

 vate agreement and mutual under- 

 standing. Thus, Mafi Habe, one 

 of the wives of Finow the first, 

 the father of the present king, was 

 Mr. Mariner's foster mother, ap- 

 pointed by the king her husbaiul. 

 To this person Mr. Mariner feels 

 himself greatly indebted for a con- 

 siderable portion of his intimate 

 knowledge of the language and 

 true customs of Tonga, in contra- 

 distinction to words and customs 

 introduced from other islands. 

 8he would frequently take the 

 greatest pains in teaching him the 

 correct Tonga pronunciation, and 

 would laugh him out of all little 

 habits and customs, in dress, man- 

 ners, and conversation, that were 

 not strictly according to the Tonga 

 fashion, or not considered suffi- 

 ciently polished and becoming an 

 egi (noble.) In all respects, and 



on 



