Religion of the natives. 



TONGATABOO. 



Their gods Maui and Tangaloa. 



185 



They remained on board upwards of an hour, 

 and took lunch with me. I was much amused 

 with their conduct; they ate heartily of every 

 thing on the table, and finally crammed themselves 

 with almonds and raisins, with a most unkingly 

 appetite. They then requested leave to take 

 some to their wives, which they tied up in the 

 corner of their tapas. Before they left the ship, I 

 presented King George (in the name of the govern- 

 ment) with a handsome fowling-piece, and King 

 Josiah with a red silk umbrella, which highly de- 

 lighted him. Their majesties were both naked, 

 except the tapa wound around their waists; and it 

 was a curious sight to see them endeavouring to 

 imitate us in the use of knives and forks. They 

 left the ship highly delighted with their presents 

 and visit, embarked in their canoe, and proceeded 

 to Nukualofa, all joining again in the same chorus. 

 The canoe was nearly level with the water, and 

 appeared like a floating mass of human beings. 



Thus ended my hopes of effecting the desired 

 reconciliation between the two parties. The hea- 

 then are represented by the Christian party and 

 missionaries as a set of cruel savages, great liars, 

 treacherous, and evil-disposed; and this character 

 seems to be given to them only because they will 

 not listen to the preaching; and it is alleged they 

 must therefore be treated with severity, and com- 

 pelled to yield. Under these feelings it was in 

 vain to expect to produce a reconciliation; and 

 had I been aware of them, I should not have 

 attempted the task. I must here record, that in 

 all that met our observations, the impression was, 

 that the heathen were well-disposed and kind, and 

 were desirous of putting an end to the difficulties. 



Several of the officers visited Moa. In order to 

 reach it, it is necessary to pass in boats through a 

 large shallow lagoon, and it must be crossed nearly 

 at high water, or the channel will be found very 

 tortuous. The town or village is situated a little 

 above the general level; it is surrounded by a 

 ditch, which has little depth, as the coral rock is 

 soon reached, and is not cut into. The intrench- 

 ment is composed of earth and logs, over which is 

 a wicker fence, like that at Nukualofa; at the 

 gates the ditch is interrupted, so as to form 

 entrances, which are narrow and low. On the 

 inside a guard-house with a sentinel was found; 

 within the intrenchment was a high and well-built 

 fence, and inside again were separate enclosures. 

 They were led to the house of Faatu, the principal 

 chief, who treated them with civility and kindness; 

 they found him to possess both dignity and polite- 

 ness. In his house were several Tonga drums, 

 which were offered as seats. The natives were in 

 great numbers, of all ages and sexes. A brisk 

 trade was carried on for the supplies we needed ; 

 and although Faatu took no active part, yet the 

 whole was evidently under his supervision. 



The missionaries were kind enough to give me 

 the following outline of the belief of the heathen 

 belonging to this group of islands. They worship 

 many gods, who are believed to possess unlimited 

 power over them, and are called the gods of Bulotu 

 or Atua faka Bulotu, whom they believe immortal; 

 some of these gods are of this world, and are called 

 Atua. 



They believe that all evil is inflicted by certain 

 gods, called Atua Banuu; that the spirits of all 

 chiefs go to Bulotu; but that those of poor people 



remain in this world, to feed upon ants and 

 lizards; that the island of Bulotu is not distant, 

 although they do not attempt to fix its locality; 

 that both gods and goddesses have visited Tonga 

 within thirty years past, when they drank ava in 

 their temples, and were married to Tonga chiefs; 

 that the higher gods or those of Bulotu do not 

 consider lying, theft, adultery, murder, &c., as 

 crimes, but as things of this world, which are left 

 for the inferior gods to deal with, and do not con- 

 cern their more elevated natures. The only crime 

 against the higher gods is sacrilege, committed 

 towards their temples, or an improper use of the 

 offerings. They call their oldest god Maui, and 

 say that he drew the world or islands out of the 

 sea with a hook and line: the first he drew up he 

 named Ata, which is referred to Pylstart; the next 

 was Tonga, with all its group of islands; then Lo- 

 fanga and the other Hapai islands; and last, the 

 Vavao Group. After he had finished his work, he 

 came and fixed his residence at Tonga. In those 

 days the sky was so near the earth that men were 

 obliged to crawl. One day Maui is represented as 

 having met an old woman with water in a cocoa- 

 nut shell, of whom he begged some drink, which 

 she refused until he promised to send the sky up 

 high, which he did, by pushing it up, and there it 

 has remained ever since. To Maui is ascribed the 

 origin of that most useful tree called toa, the iron- 

 wood (casuarina), which in time reached the sky, 

 and enabled the god called Etumatubua to descend. 

 Maui had two sons, the eldest called Maui Ata- 

 longa, and the younger Kijikiji, but by whom is 

 not known. Kijikiji obtained some fire from the 

 earth, and taught them to cook their food, which 

 they found was good, and from that day food has 

 been cooked which before was eaten raw. In 

 order to preserve the fire, Kijikiji commanded it 

 to go into certain trees, whence it is now obtained 

 by friction. They further say, that during the 

 time old Maui was on the earth, the only light was 

 like that of the moon, and that neither day nor 

 night existed; that Mani and his two sons live 

 under the earth, where he sleeps most of his time; 

 that when he turns himself over, he produces 

 earthquakes, which they call " mofooeke." Maui 

 is not now worshipped by any tribe, nor is he loved 

 or feared. 



Tangaloa, their second god, is thought to be 

 nearly as old as Maui, and equal to him in dignity. 

 He resides in the skies, which the Tongese believe 

 to be very numerous. Hikuleo is the god of spirits, 

 and is the third in order of time ; he dwells in a 

 cave in the island. Bulotu is most remarkable for 

 a long tail, which prevents him from going further 

 from the cave in which he resides than its length 

 will admit of. In this cave he has feasts, and lives 

 with his wives, by whom he has many children ; he 

 has absolute power over all, and all are forced to 

 go to him ; he is a being without love or goodness ; 

 to him the spirits of the chiefs and mataboles go, 

 becoming his servants, and are forced to do his 

 will, and to serve for what purpose he pleases ; he 

 even uses them to make fences of, or as bars to his 

 gates ; and they have the idea that his house and 

 all things in it are made of the spirits of people, 

 where they continue to serve without end. They 

 never pray to Bulotu, except when some sacri- 

 lege has been committed to the offerings they 

 make him ; and on this occasion they always 



