Passage of the Peacock from New South 

 Wales. Royal family of Tonga. 



TONGATABOO. 



Outbreak and termination of the war. 

 Feejee women. 



191 



tance from her ; she screamed aloud, and jumped 

 on the music-stool ; a servant soon came to the 

 rescue, and killed the intruder. Instances occur 

 repeatedly of these snakes infesting the houses, 

 and so common are they, that if a person is stung, 

 it is at once supposed to be by a snake. The ef- 

 fects of the bite, if not fatal, are said to produce 

 partial blindness. 



On the 30th of March they left Sydney, and 

 passed the Heads of Port Jackson on the same 

 afternoon. They had at first light winds, and made 

 but little progress. When about seventy miles 

 from the coast, in latitude 33j S., they experi- 

 enced a change of four degrees in the temperature 

 of the sea; and on the 3rd of April, they found 

 they had been set thirty miles to the southward 

 during the day. On the 5th, the temperature 

 again fell to 72, with an easterly current. Several 

 English vessels were seen cruising for whales in 

 latitude 28 L S., longitude 157 E. The winds con- 

 tinued contrary and light. On the 9th, in longitude 

 159 43' E., latitude 26 S., an opportunity oc- 

 curred for trying the deep-sea temperature. At 

 eight hundred and thirty fathoms below the sur- 

 face, the temperature had decreased to 46, that of 

 the surface being 76; and the current was found 

 setting east-by-south half a mile per hour. 



The current was now found setting to the south- 

 south-west, at the rate of half a mile per hour. 



On the 18th they again attempted to get a deep- 

 sea cast, and had nineteen hundred fathoms of 

 line out; in hauling in the line it parted, and 

 nearly seventeen hundred fathoms of it were lost, 

 besides the only self-registering thermometer we 

 had left in the squadron, which put a stop to our 

 experiments. They had now several days of light 

 variable winds, with occasional rain and much 

 lightning and thunder. The island of Eooa was 

 made on the 30th of April, and on the 1st of May 

 they passed through the reefs and joined the 

 squadron. 



The present King Josiah is one of the sons of 

 Mumui, who was reigning in Cook's time. Three 

 of King Josiah's brothers have preceded him as 

 rulers of Tonga: these were Tugo Aho, Tubou 

 Toa, and Tubou Maloki. The first reigned but a 

 short time, being put to death by Tubou Ninha, a 

 brother of the celebrated Finau. Tubou Ninha 

 was afterwards murdered by Tubou Toa, who 

 reigned over the Hapai Islands, Tubou Maloki 

 receiving the title of King of Tonga, or rather Tui 

 Kanakabolo, or Lord of Kanakabolo, while that of 

 Vavao was governed by the younger Finau, adopted 

 son of Finau Ulukalalu. This was the state of the 

 island at the time of Mariner's, or Togi Uummea's 

 visit. A few months after his departure, Finau 

 died a natural death, and was succeeded by his 

 uncle, Finau Feejee, having Toa Omoo to assist 

 him. Finau Feejee was murdered by Hala Apia- 

 pia, who succeeded him; but his ambition of ob- 

 taining kingly power was not long satisfied, before 

 he was put to death by Paunga, a high chief. The 

 son of Finau Ulukalalu, named Tuabiji, succeeded, 

 but died within a few years, and did not bear a 

 good character. His dominions were immediately 

 seized upon by Taufaahau, the present King 

 George, then king of Hapai, the son of Tubou 

 Toa, and grandson of Mumui; and there is now a 

 prospect of his becoming king of the whole group. 

 The Tui Kanakabolo, Tubou Maloki, was suc- 



ceeded by the present King Josiah, or Tubou. 

 Before the death of Tubou Maloki, his power had 

 become very limited, Tonga itself being distracted 

 by many civil broils; neither has his successor, 

 King Josiah, more energy. His domain may now 

 be said to be circumscribed to the town of Nukua- 

 lofa; and if it had not been for the timely aid of 

 Taufaahau, he would in all probability ere now 

 have been driven from his kingdom. The son of 

 Tubou Maloki, Mumui, before spoken of, is most 

 thought of as his successor, though against such a 

 powerful competitor as King George he does not 

 stand much chance. 



Since leaving the island, in the month of Au- 

 gust, whilst employed in the neighbouring group 

 (the Feejee), we learned that the war in Tonga 

 had terminated very differently from what had 

 been anticipated, in the complete rout of the 

 Christian party, King George and all his warriors 

 being compelled to fly the island. On the arrival 

 of Captain Croker, of H.B.M. sloop Favourite, he 

 warmly interested himself in the advancement of 

 the missionary cause, and determined to engage in 

 negotiations with the heathen; but finding that 

 many difficulties impeded his plans, he unfortu- 

 nately determined to bring matters at once to an 

 issue, and demanded that the terms he dictated 

 should be acceded to by the heathen within a few 

 hours. To enforce his demand, lie landed a large 

 part of his crew, with officers, and proceeded to 

 the fortress of Bea; only an hour was given its 

 defenders to decide. I am informed that it has 

 since been understood that if a longer time had 

 been granted, they would have acceded to his 

 demand. He was punctual to his time, and on the 

 chiefs refusing to surrender, he made an attack 

 upon the fortress. On his advancing near the 

 gate, he, with many of his officers and men, were 

 shot down; the survivors suffered a total defeat, 

 and were obliged to retreat forthwith. The hea- 

 then now became the assailants, and the Christian 

 party, together with the missionaries, were forced 

 to embark, and afterwards landed at Vavao; King 

 George was obliged to retire, and Nukualofa was 

 invested by the heathen. Thus ended this reli- 

 gious war, and I cannot but believe that the pre- 

 cipitate zeal of the missionaries was the cause of 

 so disastrous a result. That the heathen were 

 well disposed to make peace, I am well assured; a 

 little patience and forbearance, and at the same 

 time encouraging intercourse with their towns and 

 setting them a good example, would have gradu- 

 ally and surely brought about the desired results; 

 while to force them to become converts, was a mode 

 of proceeding calculated only to excite their en- 

 mity and opposition. 



The night previous to our sailing, May 3rd, two 

 of the Feejee women who had been smuggled from 

 Vavao by Captain Wilson, paddled off in a canoe 

 to the Peacock, entreating to be received on board 

 and conveyed to their own country, and with the 

 view of securing their object, it was found they 

 had thrown away their paddles. The request was 

 denied, and Captain Hudson had new ones at once 

 made for them ; they were compelled to enter their 

 canoe again, and paddled off. They then visited 

 the tender Flying-Fish, and in order to prevent 

 their being turned off in the same way, they set 

 their canoe adrift. As it was late at night, they 

 were retained on board, and sent to the Vincennes 



