Eooa Tongataboo. 



TONGATABOO. 



Threatened war. 



179 



which had been burnt at sea. They were taken 

 on board the Herald, most kindly treated, brought 

 and landed in New South Wales. The crew of 

 the Herald presented them with 100?., and Captain 

 Nias allowed them to sell their boat; besides all 

 this, they were amply supplied with clothes. This 

 report of the loss of the ship seemed placed beyond 

 contradiction, and to meet her afterwards caused 

 us great surprise. A day or two after we had lost 

 sight of the ship, a man whom 1 had taken on 

 board as a distressed seaman, confessed that lie 

 had deserted from her, and also informed us that 

 the six men had left the ship at sea in an open 

 boat, in consequence of the ill treatment they had 

 received from the captain, and the short allowance 

 of provisions on board. The manner in which they 

 carried on their deception upon Captain Nias, his 

 officers, and crew, was remarkable, and shows how 

 much commiseration all classes of men feel for 

 those in distress, and how unwilling they are to 

 scrutinize a tale of sorrow, when they have the 

 apparent evidence before them of its truth. These 

 men were upwards of twenty days on board the 

 Herald, and yet I was told that they were through- 

 out consistent in their account of the alleged mis- 

 fortune, and apparently showed much proper 

 feeling for the fate that had befallen their com- 

 panions. 



Until the 19th we had light breezes; in the after- 

 noon of this day we saw the appearance of a water- 

 spout, forming about half a mile from the ship; 

 the water was seen flying up, as if from a circle of 

 fifty feet in diameter, throwing off jets from the 

 circumference of the circle, not unlike a willow 

 basket in shape, and having a circular motion from 

 right to left; there was a heavy black cloud over it, 

 but no descending tube ; and it did not appear 

 to have any progressive motion. Desirous of 

 getting near, I kept the ship oft' for it, but we 

 had little wind; the cloud dispersed, and the whole 

 was dissipated before we got near to it. The 

 electrometer showed no change. 



The next day, the 20th of April, in latitude 24 

 26' S., longitud'e 174 47' 30" W., we took the 

 trades from about east : passed over the position 

 assigned to the island of Vasquez, but saw nothing 

 of it. Some appearance of land existing to the 

 eastward, the Porpoise was despatched to look 

 for it. 



On the 22nd, we made the island of Eooa, and 

 that of Tongataboo. The wind the whole day was 

 very variable, with squalls and heavy rain ; and it 

 being too late to run through the long canal that 

 leads to the harbour, I deemed it most prudent to 

 haul off for the night. A southerly cui-rent drove 

 us further off' than I anticipated, and we did not 

 succeed the next day in regaining our position; we 

 experienced much lightning and rain, with the 

 wind strong from the eastward. On the 24th, at 

 1 P.M., we rounded the eastern end of Tongataboo, 

 and stood down through the Astrolabe canal. This 

 is a dangerous passage, and ought not to be 

 attempted when the wind is variable or light ; it is 

 nine miles in length, and passes between two coral 

 reefs, where there is no anchorage; it was at the 

 western end of it that the Astrolabe was near 

 being wrecked in 1827. It is from half to one 

 mile wide, gradually narrowing, until the small 

 island of Mahoga appears to close the passage. 

 When nearly up to this island, the passage takes a 



short and narrow turn to the northward; in turning 

 round into this pass, I was aware of a coral patch, 

 laid down by the Astrolabe, and hauled up to 

 avoid it, by passing to the eastward ; but the 

 danger was nearer the reef than laid down, and 

 the sun's glare being strong, we were unable to 

 see it, and ran directly upon it. For a moment 

 the ship's way was stopped, but the obstacle broke 

 under her, and we proceeded on to the anchorage 

 off Nukualofa, the residence of King Josiah, alias 

 Tubou. In our survey of the above passage, no 

 shoal was found in the place where the ship had 

 struck, and we had the satisfaction of knowing 

 that we had destroyed it without injury to the 

 vessel. 



The tender had arrived before us, and I found 

 also here the British vessel Currency Lass. This 

 harbour, when it is reached, is a safe one, and is 

 well protected by the reefs. 



Nukualofa is a station of the Wesleyan Mission, 

 the heads of which, Messrs. Tucker and Rabone, 

 paid me a visit, aud from them I learnt that the 

 Christian and Devil's parties were on the point of 

 hostilities; that Taufaahau or King George, of 

 Vavao, had arrived with eight hundred warriors, 

 for the purpose of carrying on the war, and putting 

 an end to it. 



The islands of Tongataboo and Eooa are the two 

 southern islands of the Hapai Group (the Friendly 

 Isles of Cook); the former is a low, level island, 

 while that of Eooa is high. The highest part of 

 Tongataboo is only sixty feet above the level of the 

 sea, while that of Eooa rises about six hundred 

 feet; the strait between them is eight miles wide. 

 Tonga is extremely fruitful, and covered with 

 foliage, aud contains ten thousand inhabitants; 

 while that of Eooa is rocky and barren, and con- 

 tains only two hundred inhabitants. 



Believing that I might exert an influence to 

 reconcile the parties, and through my instrumen- 

 tality restore the blessings of peace, I proffered my 

 services to that effect, which were warmly ac- 

 cepted by the Reverend Mr. Tucker. I therefore 

 sent a message to the chiefs of the Christian party, 

 to meet me in fono in the morning, and late at 

 night received a notice that they would be pre- 

 pared to receive me. On the morning of the 24th, 

 I landed, with all the officei's that could be spared 

 from other duties; we were received on the beach 

 by Mr. Tucker, and were at once surrounded by a 

 large number of natives. It was impossible not to 

 be struck with the great difference between these 

 people and those we had just left in New Zealand; 

 nothing of the morose and savage appearance so 

 remarkable there, was seen; here all was cheer- 

 fulness and gaiety; all appeared well-fed and well- 

 formed, with full faces and. muscles. The number 

 of children particularly attracted our notice, in 

 striking contrast to the New Zealand groups, where 

 few but men were seen. In a few minutes we 

 heard the native drum, calling the warriors and 

 people together; we went a short distance along 

 the beach, passed into the fortification, and up a 

 gentle acclivity, on the top of which is now the 

 Mission church, and the house of King Tubou. 

 On our way up we passed by the drum, or as it is 

 here called, toki, which is a large hollow log, not 

 unlike a pig-trough, made of hard, sonorous wood; 

 it is struck with a mallet, shaped somewhat like 

 that used by stone-cutters; it gives a sound not 

 N 2 



