A GLIMPSE OF TONGAN HISTORY. 287 



tufts of trees. Tofua, Kao, and Late are sufficiently high to 

 be distinguished 15 or 20 leagues off at sea. Eoa, Namuka, 

 and Vavau are of a moderate height ; Tongatabu and the rest 

 are all very low in fact, the highest point at the capital is 

 only 100 feet above high-water level. I have heard a great 

 many estimates of the population ; but I do not think I am 

 very far wrong in guessing it at about 30,000. 



Tongatabu is in the form of an irregular crescent, whose 

 convexity faces the south, and the concavity the north, deeply 

 indented by a lagoon of 5 miles broad and 3 miles deep. 

 Immense reefs of coral extend 6 or 8 miles off the island on all 

 its north part, and form different channels, with a useful road 

 for any ship that anchors there. Many islets are situated 

 among these coral reefs, the greater number being covered 

 with trees. Eoa lies to the south-east of Tongatabu, a channel 

 of some 9 miles separating them. It is about 600 feet in 

 height, rocky and barren, and has few inhabitants. The 

 principal island of the Namuka Group is rather low, and has a 

 salt-water lake in its centre, without communication with the 

 sea. This extraordinary lake is about a mile and a half broad. 

 To the north and east of Namuka, the sea is sprinkled with a 

 vast number of islands, which lie scattered around at unequal 

 distances. Most of them are entirely clothed with trees of all 

 sorts, including the cocoa-nut palms and flowering shrubs, and 

 each presents the appearance of a beautiful garden placed in 

 the sea. 



The Hapai, Lifuka, and Kotoo Groups call for no special 

 remark. Tofoa, an active and volcanic island to the north- 

 west of Kotoo, in lat. 19 45' S., long. 175 3' W., is about 

 2800 feet high. A remarkable lake, as in Taviuni, is said to 

 exist upon it, from which the natives bring small black volcanic 

 pebbles, which are greatly prized, to cover the graves of their 



