A GLIMPSE OF TONGAN HISTORY. 301 



beat him about the head and pierce him wherever they could, 

 until, as they described it to the Tongan filibuster, 'after 

 much hard work he was quite dead.' Their toil over, they re- 

 solved at once to see if he was good for a meal ; and selecting 

 the parts they thought the tenderest, they baked them, and 

 doubtless had a fine dinner off a wandering crocodile. Accord- 

 ing to a New Orleans journal, a fowl stuffed with dynamite is 

 placed near an alligator's resort, and then the editor says 

 sadly, ' When that alligator indulges in that poultry, he knows 

 his place no more.' According to the Tongan tradition, the 

 Fijian's simple noose was too much for the 'big lizard' from 

 the East Indies. 



CHAPTEE XXXIII. 



TONGAN TRADITIONS. 



As in Fiji, rank is very strictly observed in Tonga. In the 

 old days there existed two chiefs in that group who claimed a 

 sort of divine power ; these were the Tuitonga and Veachi, the 

 first of course meaning chief of Tonga, which island has always 

 been considered the most important and noble of all the 

 Tongan Group. In Tonga all the greatest chiefs resided, and 

 were buried near the tombs of their ancestors, and this is how 

 it is that the appellation tabu was given it the latter word 

 meaning sacred or holy. 



Tuitonga and Veachi were both supposed to be descended 

 from chief gods, who had formerly visited Tonga. The respect 

 formerly shown to Tuitonga, and his high rank in society, were 

 entirely of a religious nature, and in secular matters the king 

 was supreme. Once a year (about October), the first-fruits 



