Climate. Hurricanes. 



TONGATABOO. 



Diseases. Mode of traffic. 

 Musquitoes. 



189 



have introduced the sweet orange from Tahiti, and 

 a species of cherimoyer (annona) ; many other 

 things have, as I learned, been attempted, but 

 have hitherto failed. I presented the missionaries 

 with a variety of both fruit and vegetable seeds, 

 and trust that they will succeed and be of advan- 

 tage to future visitors ; the natives, I was told, 

 understand the different kinds, discriminating 

 among them in their planting. 



The botany of this island resembles that of the 

 Samoan Group. A species of nutmeg was found 

 here, differing from either of the Samoan ones: 

 the trees were very full of fruit, and much larger; 

 one of them was observed a foot and a half in 

 diameter, and upwards of forty feet in height. 

 There was a number of ornamental shrubs. A 

 description of climbing plants, which it was found 

 a difficult matter to trace among the varieties of 

 forest trees, gave a peculiar character to some 

 parts of this overgrown island. 



The climate of Tonga is humid and the heat 

 oppressive, rising frequently to 98 in the shade ; 

 much rain falls; the mean temperature during our 

 stay was 79 '25. The trade-winds are by no 

 means constant, and westerly winds occasionally 

 blow in every season, which, from their variable 

 character, have obtained the name with the natives 

 of " foolish winds." 



We had to regret the state the island was in, as 

 it prevented our making that full examination of it 

 that I had intended and hoped; we saw enough, how- 

 ever, to satisfy ourselves that Tongataboo is not the 

 cultivated garden it has been represented to be. 

 The ficus tree figured in the voyage of the Astro- 

 labe, whose trunk is there stated to be one hundred 

 feet in circumference, was visited. We were sur- 

 prised to find it had no proper trunk, but only a 

 mass of intertwined roots, through which it is pos- 

 sible to see in many directions, rising to a height 

 of eighty or ninety feet, when it throws around its 

 great and wide-spreading branches. Two other 

 species of ficus were found, one with labiate 

 branches and horizontal spreading arms, the other 

 with a trunk about nine feet in diameter. 



The climate cannot be considered salubrious ; 

 very heavy dews fall at night, and no constitution 

 can endure frequent exposure at this time ; the 

 transitions from heat to cold are sudden and great, 

 and the nights are often so chilly as to make blan- 

 kets necessary. 



Hurricanes are frequent in this group, scarcely 

 a season passing without some occurrence of the 

 kind : the months of February and March are 

 those in which they occur ; but they have also 

 taken place in November and December. The 

 missionaries as yet have made no series of obser- 

 vations, nor kept any kind of meteorological diary; 

 but in answer to my inquiries I obtained the infor- 

 mation, that the storms begin at the north-west, 

 thence veer to the eastward, and end in south-east. 

 The wind continues to increase until it becomes a 

 hurricane: houses are levelled, and trees torn up by 

 the roots; vessels are driven on shore; canoes lost 

 or driven hundreds of miles away to other islands. 

 In these storms the wind is frequently observed to 

 change almost immediately from one point to its 

 opposite ; and in the same group of islands, trees 

 have fallen, during the same gale, some to the 

 south and others to the north. They are local in 

 their effects, and fall chiefly upon Hapai and 



Vavao; if the fury of the storm be felt at Vavao, 

 Tonga generally escapes, and vice versa ; but 

 Hapai is more or less the sufferer in both cases, 

 situated as it is between the two places. A very 

 severe hurricane was felt at Lefooka, Hapai, in 

 1834. These hurricanes vary in duration from 

 eighteen to thirty-six hours ; after a destructive 

 one, a famine generally ensues, in which numbers 

 of the natives die : it destroys all their crops. 

 The natives give the name to those which are 

 most severe, " Afa higa faji," or the hurricane that 

 throws down the banana-trees. 



Earthquakes are frequently felt here, though 

 there is no knowledge of any destructive effects 

 from them. 



The diseases of this climate are influenza, colds, 

 coughs, and consumptions ; glandular swellings, 

 some eruptive complaints, fevers, and some slight 

 irregular intermittents are experienced ; but to 

 judge from the number of old persons, longevity is 

 by no means uncommon. The venereal disease 

 has not made the same devastation here as else- 

 where ; probably because, as respects morals and 

 virtue, these natives are the opposite to those of 

 Tahiti. 



Desirous of obtaining some of their arms, im- 

 plements, and other curiosities, Mr. Waldron, Mr. 

 Hale, and Mr. Vanderford, went to Nukualofa to 

 make purchases, taking with them a large assort- 

 ment of articles for the fair. The difficulties to be 

 encountered in making purchases of the natives is 

 scarcely to be imagined ; no small amount of 

 patience is required to go through the chaffering 

 that is necessary to secure the article desired ; for 

 if their price is at once acceded to, they consider 

 their bargain is a bad one. No inducement is suf- 

 ficient for them to part with several articles of a 

 kind at once ; each must be disposed of separately, 

 and on all a like chaffering must be gone through 

 with. The natives, before they bring articles for 

 sale, fix their minds upon something they desire to 

 obtain, and if that is not to be had, they take their 

 things away again, it matters not whether the 

 article is equivalent in value or not. Mr. Vander- 

 ford, who has been here several times since 1810, 

 told me " he had never found the Tonga people 

 such saucy fellows." 



During our stay here, we were much incom- 

 moded by the musquitoes. I never saw them more 

 troublesome ; and for three or four nights the 

 officers and men obtained no sleep, which, added 

 to the excessive heat, was overpowering, after 

 the fatigues of a day spent in surveying. I never 

 saw the men look as much fatigued when the day 

 dawned ; some of them declared that the mus- 

 quitoes had bitten through every thing but their 

 boots and hats ; they even sought shelter in the 

 tops and cross-trees, hoping thus to escape the 

 attacks of these tormentors ; the ship was so filled 

 with them, that she was (not unaptly) likened to a 

 musical-box. Their attacks bade defiance to all 

 defences in the way of musquitoe-nets ; night obser- 

 vations became almost impracticable in conse- 

 quence of this intolerable annoyance, and I felt 

 quite desirous for the time of our departure from 

 the island to arrive. 



On the 1 st of May, our observations and sur- 

 veying duties being completed, the instruments 

 were embarked, and the boats hoisted in. A new 

 difficulty now arose ; for I was informed that 



