344 A MISSION TO VITI. 



prices went up. At one time the Fijians would give a 

 considerable quantity for a few nails. "But now," 

 Mariner continues, " they demand axes and chisels, and 

 those, too, of the best quality, for they have gradually 

 become judges of such things : whales' teeth are also 

 given in exchange for it. The chiefs of the Fiji is- 

 lands very seldom oil themselves, and consequently re- 

 quire very little of this wood, the principal use of it 

 being to scent the oil. The natives of the Tonga is- 

 lands, however, who require a considerable quantity of 

 it for the above purpose, complain heavily of its scar- 

 city ; and what renders the matter still worse for others 

 is, that the Fiji people, demanding a greater number of 

 axes and chisels for a given quantity of wood, these im- 

 plements are growing very scarce at the Tonga islands, 

 and plentiful at Fiji. Before the Tonga people ac- 

 quired iron implements, they usually gave whales' teeth, 

 gnatoo (bark cloth) mats for sails and platt ; but whales' 

 teeth are exceedingly scarce, and the other articles are 

 too bulky for ready exportation. The sting of the fish 

 called sting-ray was also occasionally given ; but these 

 stings, which they use for the points of spears, are by 

 no means plentiful. This fish is found in the greatest 

 quantity at an island called Ovoa, which lies about 

 midway between Vavau and Samoa. Another article of 

 exchange is a peculiar species of shell, which they find 

 only at Vavau, and is also scarce." ^It does not seem 

 that Europeans engaged in the sandal-wood trade until 

 towards the close of the eighteenth century, when it 

 ^ was taken up by Manila vessels for shipment to China. 

 However, so great was the demand for this article, both 



