184 



The kings visit the Vincennes. 



TONGATABOO. 



Native music. Conduct of the kings 

 on board. 



way, that they were there, and when four of the 

 vessel's crew were sent on shore to mend the casks 

 to receive oil, King George seized them, and tied 

 them to trees. He then sent word, that the wo- 

 men must be given up, and that the owner must 

 pay a ransom of muskets for the men. I found no 

 difficulty in arranging the business. King George 

 was very frank and straightforward about it, and 

 told the facts very much as they are above related. 

 On my pointing out to him that he had taken the 

 wrong course, and was punishing the innocent men 

 of the crew, he said he had no means of telling who 

 were the guilty, but that if he had done any thing 

 wrong he was willing to make amends. I thought 

 that the conduct of the Currency Lass had been 

 improper, and the decision being left to me, I de- 

 termined that the men should be set at liberty, the 

 women given up, and the muskets paid ; that King 

 George should return the water-casks, and pay for 

 those that had been injured. I took occasion, how- 

 ever, to impress upon King George the necessity of 

 not being so precipitate in punishing the innocent 

 for the guilty. The men of the Currency Lass who 

 had received bad treatment at his hands, received 

 a recompense, and so the affair was ended. 



On the morning of the 29th, it was reported to 

 me that Mufa, the old blind chief, and his compa- 

 nion, had decamped, without giving any notice of 

 their intention, and after eating their fill of the good 

 things set before them, besides carrying off the re- 

 mains of their feast. This movement, I afterwards 

 learnt, was owing to their having received intelli- 

 gence of the people of Bea having made another at- 

 tack upon the yam-grounds of the Christians, and 

 carried off a large quantity; and they were fearful 

 lest some retaliatory measures should be taken to 

 intercept them. 



This day the kings visited me, with a number of 

 their chiefs and people in a large canoe, and made a 

 fine appearance on approaching the ship; it was the 

 largest we saw during the voyage: it was one hun- 

 dred feet in length, and of the double kind, which 

 consists of two canoes of different size joined toge- 

 ther by a deck thrown across them both ; on this 

 deck a small house is constructed, which serves for 

 a cabin to keep off the weather; above the house 

 was a small platform, eight feet square, with a rail- 

 ing on each side; the mast, which is about thirty 

 feet long, is supported by guys, having a long yard 

 attached to it, with its mat-sail of huge dimensions 

 furled. 



In all canoes, both double and single, small 

 hatchways are left at both ends, with high comb- 

 ings, and when under way, a man is always seen in 

 each baling out the water. Their mode of propel- 

 ling the canoe by sculling is peculiar to the Tongese 

 and Feejees; the sculler, instead of using the oar 

 as we do, stands behind it, and holds it perpendi- 

 cularly. The oar has a broad blade, and is ten feet 

 in length : the sculler thus has the whole weight of 

 his body to assist his strength in using it : it is 

 confined in a hole in the platform. There is gene- 

 rally one of these oars at each end, and they are 

 enabled to propel one of these large canoes between 

 two and three miles an hour by means of them. 



The Tongese are great adepts in managing their 

 canoes when under sail; and they sail much more 

 swiftly on a wind than before it. As this canoe is 

 of Feejee origin, I shall defer describing it until a 

 succeeding chapter. 



The canoe of these chiefs was seen advancing 

 slowly over the calm sea by the efforts of its scul- 

 lers, and was filled with men, keeping perfect time 

 and making excellent music. 



They sing any words, but generally such as are 

 applicable to the mission of business or pleasure 

 they maybe on; and although the air and bass are 

 heard most distinctly, the four parts are all sung 

 in the most perfect harmony. From the fact that 

 the tenors and basses sing parts of a bar, alterna- 

 ting with each other, and come in perfectly, it would 

 seem that they cultivate music in their own rude 

 way, producing a wild but agreeable effect. To 

 this the scullers keep time. 



This music has a great resemblance to that of 

 the Samoan Group, and it is the custom in both to 

 sing it while at work. It may therefore be in- 

 ferred that it is native, for the Tongese never had 

 foreign music of any kind taught them. The mis- 

 sionaries themselves do not sing, and declared 

 they were not able to tell Old Hundred from God 

 save the King, if the same words were adapted to 

 both ! The females of this island, generally, have 

 very musical voices, whose pitch is the same as 

 that of European women; the voices of the men 

 are a full octave below, round and full; all are 

 very apt in learning a tune. Mr. Drayton remarks 

 that he did not hear a single strain in the minor 

 mood in singing, nor even in their natural sounds 

 in speaking. Music might be cultivated among 

 this people with great success, from the evident 

 delight they take in musical sounds, and their 

 strong desire to learn; but they could with diffi- 

 culty be prevailed upon to sing, for the state of the 

 country, and the fear of the missionaries, or the 

 order of the king, prevented it. 



Finding me engaged on the island of Pangai- 

 Moutu, at the observatory, the natives passed to 

 the shore. I received them in my tent, and the 

 first words spoken were to inform me that they 

 had come to the conference; and they asked where 

 their adversaries were. Being well aware that 

 they had avoided coming the day before, and had 

 gone out to make battle, instead of coming as 

 appointed to the meeting, and that they knew the 

 chiefs of Moa had returned, I took care to let 

 them know that I was not to be imposed upon by 

 such a trick. When they saw they could not 

 deceive me, they seemed disposed to laugh it off; 

 but finding that their chiefs and warriors (upwards 

 of one hundred) were all armed, 1 took care to 

 retort upon them for their want of confidence, and 

 to tell them how unlike it was to their profession 

 of Christianity, and that they must show a proper 

 disposition, before the white people would give 

 them any credit for being Christians. I then took 

 the two kings with me on board the ship, leaving 

 their canoe to follow. Shortly after we had em- 

 barked, King George's followers, finding a canoe 

 on the beach owned by three natives of Rotuma, 

 who reside at Moa, stole the paddles out of it, 

 turned it over, and set it adrift. On making it 

 known to King George, however, he promised 

 recompense, but would not punish or seek to find 

 out the perpetrators of the deed. I felt provoked 

 that the king should not have had more control 

 over them. He in truth seems to exercise very 

 little power over his people. The kings were 

 shown over the ship, and several guns were fired, 

 which they pretended to wonder at very much. 



