Conversation with King Josiah. TONGATABOO K "J Geol ?f s council Population of the Ifi7 



LDW. Tonga Islands. Missionary stations. l i 



The last day I visited Nukualofa, Mr. Tucker 

 was kind enough to take me to see Tamahaa, the 

 aunt of Tui Tonga, who is considered of divine 

 origin, for which reason great respect and honours 

 are paid her. It is said that she has great influence 

 with the heathen, although being a convert, she is 

 favourable to the Christian side. As a token of 

 the great respect with which she is regarded, it was 

 remarked that the natives never turn the back upon 

 her until at thirty or fovty feet distance, and never 

 eat in her presence. She is old enough to remem- 

 ber the arrival of Cook when she was a child. . We 

 found her sitting in her house, with a child who 

 could just walk (both enclosed in a rolled screen, 

 before described), whom she was feeding with 

 cocoa-nut pulp. We shook hands and sat some 

 time with her, making many inquiries about the 

 former persons of the island, which the entertain- 

 ing volumes of Dr. Martin, relating the adventures 

 of Mariner, had made me acquainted with. She 

 seemed to know Togi Uummea, the name by which 

 Mariner was known, and also most of the people 

 mentioned in Mariner's account. 



On a visit to the missionaries, I found Tubou or 

 King Josiah, who had been sitting for his picture, 

 and had fallen fast asleep. Wishing to get some 

 information from him, I felt desirous of waking 

 him up, and for that purpose asked him some ques- 

 tions about the kingly sport of rat-hunting, described 

 in Mariner's Tonga Islands, and whether he could 

 not indulge me with an exhibition of a hunt. His 

 eye's at ouce brightened, and he became aroused to 

 great animation, as though his former feats and 

 pleasure in this sport were vividly before him. He 

 regretted that the present state of the island, and 

 the all-engrossing war, occupied too much of their 

 attention to allow them to engage in any such peace- 

 ful occupation. He was represented to be a great 

 sportsman, and the animation with which he spoke 

 gave evident proof of it. He said that the game or 

 sport was now seldom practised ; that the rats had 

 in consequence much increased, and were a great 

 annoyance to the cultivator; but the war seemed 

 to engross all the powers of his feeble mind. He 

 told me that the heathen in all had fifteen hundred 

 warriors; that they usually made war by attacking 

 the taro and yam-grounds; these they plunder and 

 destroy, which ultimately produces a famine, not 

 only to their enemies but to themselves. He 

 seemed to rejoice that the heathen had made the 

 first attack, as they would thereby, according to 

 their belief, be conquered. He told me he much 

 desired peace and quietness, and was willing to do 

 any thing to bring it about; and as far as he was 

 personally concerned, I believe he was in earnest, 

 for every one seemed to give him the credit of 

 being an imbecile, sleepy fellow, and paid him little 

 or no respect. 



During this visit I also saw a noted Feejee 

 warrior, who had been absent from Tonga many 

 years, and on his return had been engaged in these 

 wars; he was described as a very wicked fellow, 

 and if so, I can only say that his looks did not belie 

 him: a worse or more brutal-looking man I have 

 seldom seen. I understood that his arrival had 

 been looked for with much impatience by the 

 heathen, as affording them additional strength 

 in a noted leader ; but to the surprise of all, 

 he joined himself to King George, and desired 

 to become a Christian ; he was received as 



such, and was now employed fighting against the 

 heathen. 



On the evening of the day on which King George 

 visited the ship, he held a council, in which he ad- 

 dressed his chiefs and warriors on the necessity of 

 carrying on the war with vigour ; and measures 

 were taken to prosecute it accordingly. The meet- 

 ing took place in the malai opposite his house, while 

 he sat in the doorway with his two children, with 

 the church-people forming a circle around him. At 

 this meeting was seen the noted chief and Feejee 

 warrior who has already been spoken of, fully 

 armed, in the background. After the council had 

 debated and talked over the subject fully, King 

 George gave some commands, which several mes- 

 sengers were sent to execute, and the council was 

 dismissed in a truly primitive style and language : 

 " Let every man go and cook his yams." 



After the assemblage was dismissed, the king 

 and chiefs remained some time in consultation. 

 In this council, an attack upon the heathen towns 

 was arranged. The next morning, smoke was 

 seen ascending from some of the heathen villages, 

 and word was brought to me afterwards, that King 

 George, having sallied forth with eight hundred 

 warriors at midnight, had burned two of the 

 heathen towns. Although he had ordered seven 

 hundred more warriors to follow him at daylight, 

 he did not pursue the heathen, who fled before 

 him. On his return in the evening he held an ava 

 feast in honour of his success ; at this meeting, 

 Lavaka and Ata, or the chiefs who held these 

 titles, were formally degraded from their offices by 

 the king, a stroke of policy that is thought will 

 have much influence in alienating this people, as it 

 has usually had that effect. I, however, very much 

 question its success in the present instance, when 

 the parties have such a deadly animosity towards 

 each other ; for the very authority by which the 

 act of degradation is performed, has abandoned 

 the religion by which the act was sanctioned. 



The population of the Tonga Islands, as now 

 given by the missionaries, is 18,500, viz.: 



Eooa 200 



Hapai 4,000 



Vavao 4,000 



Keppel's 1,000 



Boscawen 1,300 . 



Tonga 8,000 



Total 



18,500 



At present the number on Tonga is increased by 

 about one thousand. 



About four thousand five hundred of the natives 

 are Christians, of whom two thousand five hundred 

 are church members. 



The jurisdiction of Tui Kanakabolo, or Lord of 

 Kanakabolo, used to extend to Uea or Wallis 

 Island, and several of the smaller islands in the 

 neighbourhood. 



This group of islands is divided into three mis- 

 sionary stations, viz. : 



Tongataboo, commenced in . . 1829 

 Hapai . . 1829 



Vavao ,, . . 1830 



The missionaries reside at each of these stations. 

 The smaller islands are under the care of native 

 teachers, and are visited occasionally by the mis- 

 sionaries to marry and baptize, &c. There is a 

 printing-press established at Vavao, which has 



